People are kind-hearted . . .

I bumped into a friend who reminded me of a story.

Once upon a time, I was a young newspaper reporter, covering a crowded local election in a south Georgia community. I won't lie to you. I was so deeply embedded in that election that I had a personal favorite - I wanted one of the candidates to win. But, I had to remain neutral, obviously, because back then newspaper reporters at least worked hard to be neutral. The candidate that I privately supported had a big uphill battle to win, but I've always, always supported the underdog in everything.

On election day, I went to a polling location where I knew many of the candidates would be voting. The person I privately supported was walking out of the polling location and I stopped him.

"How do you really feel about your chances?" I asked him. "What does your gut tell you?"

"Every single person I've spoken to in the past week is voting for me," he said. "Based on that, I'm pretty confident I'll make the runoff and then we'll go from there." Fast-forward about 12 hours. He finished fifth out of seven candidates . . . he barely got 8 percent of the vote.

Uh, someone lied to him. A lot of people lied to him. A lot of his friends and family lied to him!

My friend, also an independent author, was lamenting the sales of his book - now published for 18 months. He had great expectations fueled by the enthusiasm of all those who knew and loved him. They had promised to read his book. They had promised that upon reading his book they would write a review for his book. They had promised to tell all of their friends. In his small-minded vision he saw a movie contract coming his way.

"People are liars," he said, smiling. "I just wasn't ready for all my friends to be liars."

He went on tell me that he had confronted some of his best friends, pointedly asking them if they had read his book. I winced at that and said, "I have never asked anyone if they've read my books. I also don't ask anyone whether they liked it or not." I respect that people read what interests them, and maybe my little books are way down on their list. Also, I don't want to cultivate a system of lies.

Why not, he asked.

"I believe people are kind-hearted," I said. "I believe they tell others what they want to hear. 'I'll vote for you' and 'Sure, I read your book' and 'Yes, I would love your asparagus and chives casserole' are easy promises to make, make someone else feel good, and provide little or no accountability. So, the lie is protected. It comes from kindness not meanness."

"I read your book," I told him. "I'm sorry I was late leaving a review on Amazon, but quite honestly I forgot about it."

He was just about to say something, when I stopped him.

"Don't ask if I liked your book," I said. "I wrote a good review, and let's leave it at that."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TEN: The blessing of a bed frame

Image
This past Saturday, I decided to clean out behind our little backyard shed. I looked around the back yard, looking for some little project to tackle, and the shed called my name. Behind the shed is the graveyard for things I don't intend to keep. I throw them back there because I'm too lazy to take them to the trash and recycling center. When the living dead of the graveyard starts becoming visible from the back deck, well, it's time for cleanup. There was an old busted sawhorse. There were two pieces of cracking PVC pipe. There was an old dog kennel, with a missing door, from many years ago. There was an old broken mop handle - or it may have been a broom handle. I'm no longer sure. There was a rotten canvas thing the boys once used as a baseball target. There was an old rusty discus from Andrew's high school track days. There were various old, rotten wooden boards. There was also an old garden hose. And, there was a two-piece metal, adjustable bed frame. After pul
Read more

SIX: The tomatoes have been good this year

Image
Dear Daddy: The tomatoes have been good - no great - this season. Thank you for giving me your green thumb. I planted four Better Boy plants on Good Friday, and by the end of June, those spring blooms had turned to ripe tomatoes. Vicki and I have enjoyed four loaves of bread worth of bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches, and simple tomato sandwiches. I have made tomato sauce over cheese tortellini twice. I made tomato pie on two occasions - both times as a side dish to thick "ribeye" pork chops. I have given away tomatoes to my neighbors, to my friends, and even gave permission to some just to come by and pick one as needed. Daddy, when I tell you those four tomato plants have yielded an unbelievable harvest it is no understatement. And, about now I can hear you say . . . "Huh, Well, that's great. Did you just pick one off the vine and eat it right there?"  Yes, I did that, too. No, I didn't wash it.  The tomato patch has not been this fruit-bearing since 2
Read more

NINE: Traveling with honey bees

Image
This is a story from April 1983. I was 24 years old, single, living alone in Jesup, GA - about an hour from Jekyll Island and the Georgia coast. Every other weekend, I traveled north - about a five-hour drive - to see Vicki. As I've mentioned in other posts, we either met at her grandparent's house in West Point, GA., in my hometown of Cumming, GA, or in Athens, where she was in school at the University of Georgia. At the time, I drove a 1973, two-door Chevrolet Chevelle, dark green with a black hardtop. It leaked water in the back seat during heavy rainstorms. I once threw down some dirt and Kentucky 31 and actually grew fescue back there. That Chevelle had no air-conditioning. When I bought it in 1976 it only had an AM radio, but I had since put in an AM/FM with Cassette. My friend Steve Taylor made me a mixed tape when I moved to south Georgia. That tape contained everything from Zeppelin to ELP to the Beatles. You need to buy and read my book, The Beauty Queen & The Rep
Read more