Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Taking The Lead

Watching the Olympics again. Serena Williams is battling some French chick. I don't like the fact that Serena Williams is in the Olympics. I'd rather have amateurs across the board. I hate watching tennis. Off it goes. Well, this post is off and rolling.

I made the decision last week to stop posting to this blog, and as you can read, I'm having second thoughts about it. The reason I decided to stop was that some of my opinions on the state of radio and my place in it were getting read by people who might have a reaction to it that would be counterproductive to my endgame. Vague enough? Good. Still, I like to write, and the writing is done more for my entertainment than for anyone who might happen to find this page. By closing the blog down, I was only punishing myself for things I shouldn't have been punished for in the first place. It was the literary equivalent of taking my ball and going home. My keyboard, in this case. So here I sit.

Bernie Mac died last weekend. Sad, to be sure. I thought the guy was funny, but I thought nothing more than that. He was a bit player in the "Ocean's" movie series to me. He was the inexplicable choice to take over the Bosley role from Bill Murray in the second "Charlie's Angels" movie. He had a sitcom I never watched. He was an entertainer to me, no more than that. Yet I knew that upon his death, we'd be reading about what a leader he was in the black community. It took about a day, but it happened. "The black community lost an important voice". Hmm? When your important voices are actors and stand-up comics, you're in a quicksand of which there's no escape. Will Mexicans collapse in grief when George Lopez passes on? I can't think of one white actor/singer/comic whose passing would bring the "what a blow to the Caucasian community" talk. Sure, I'll be sad when Paul Newman goes, but it won't be a crushing blow to me and my race as a whole. The entire concept is ludicrous.

If anything, Isaac Hayes, who also recently passed away, had much more influence. Think of how many illegitimate children were fathered with the help of side one of "Hot Buttered Soul" or "Shaft". Can you dig it? The cultural impact of that can't be overstated.

Bottom line is this: If you're not your own leader by the time you move out of your parents' house, maybe you should stay there a little while longer. You will work for bosses, but that doesn't mean they're leaders. I've never been the boss of anyone (even my dog seems to run me), but I'm at the place I am now because of the choices that I've made, not the choices that have been made for me. When you quit looking for someone to lead you, you'll be surprised at how much you can get done.

Some people get $5,000 a pop for telling people what I just wrote. Maybe I'm in the wrong business.

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