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“The most trusted man in America,” aka Walter Cronkite had all the gifts a broadcaster—especially a news anchor—would hope to have: credentials, skill, impartiality, appearance, and that indefinable thing the camera catches referred to as “it.”
Cronkite’s shared several similarities with a person who was one of my many mentors. His name was Jud Collins. He was to Nashville in his day what Cronkite was to America.
Ironically, both men made a mistake: They retired too early; they quit too soon. Both of these talented and effective communicators left their work bliss behind them before they should have, and publically stated that they deeply regretted their decision.
Cronkite and Collins are not alone. In fact, they are members of a huge club of regretful retirees.
When a person loves what they do, and—either voluntarily or involuntarily—stop doing it, several things happen: After a period of spending more time with the family and more time golfing, sailing, or attending to whatever hobby one enjoys, the family time and the hobby time grow old, stale and boring. Old friends—people one worked with —don’t call or e-mail anymore. You and they don’t seem to be on the same page any more. Without warning, a flavor of bitterness begins to overtake one’s personality filing it with cynicism and negativity. Living in the past becomes the place one lives. And then this once specimen of a human being who’s “never been sick a day in my life” begins to experience the breaking down of the body.
Why do people who do what they love and keep on doing it live long and relatively healthy lives, and those who quit seem to go to seed? I don’t know, but as Cronkite would say, “That’s the way it is.”
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To those who have written…those who have asked, no we haven’t forgotten Beyond Reason. Truth be told, life got busy.
In times like these, it seems the survivors among us find some way to re-invent themselves. In Teddy’s case, there’s another book in the works. In my own, it’s starting a book company. But regardless our excuses, we are both mindful that of all the things we do, nothing brings us more joy than discussing the sorts of things we address on Beyond Reason.
To that end, what better return (after nearly 3 months away from our mics) to talk with Richard Bach. Most know Richard for Jonathan Livingston Seagull. My personal favorite is: Illusions. But now he’s back with another classic called Hypnotizing Maria, wherein his fable of a story speaks to the power of belief, pointing to the walking sleep state most of us live in day to day, hypnotized as it were, to the beliefs of others that may or may not be our own truth. Once something wakes us, most of us go on some sort of inner search, which is where shows like Beyond Reason start to fit in.
Either way, it was good to get back in studio. Good to resume our production schedules again.
Here’s to getting back to our weekly conversations and newsletters.
Here’s to the day when Beyond Reason returns to a daily proposition (for those who care to dream along with us).
Until then, my thanks to those who asked about the show…asked about us personally. Between new books and new companies, we just got a little busy there for a bit. But at the end of the day, to us anyway, the best part of life is pondering the “Why’s” That end, it’s all about Beyond Reason.
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