I’ve just been re-listening to the “With Great Power” episode of “This American Life,” and something struck me. I’ve not been given a huge amount of power, but I’ve made promises. Promises connote power, and I have not lived up to that concomitant responsibility.
If I promise you that I’ll stop by your blog, I’m implying that I have the power to do so.
What I’m realizing is that it’s not just great power that brings great responsibility. And smaller amounts of power do not bring responsibility in smaller amounts, just smaller expectations.
I know that this post, and most of my posts lately, are less “about” public radio and more “inspired by” it; I’ve been in the dumps a bit lately, regarding the radio. I’m still getting used to the schedule of the new station, and I’ve been wanting to listen to music instead of podcasts (it’s incredibly difficult to find a balance).
Moreover, I promise that I’ll do something, like keep up my end of a blog, and then just forget about it. It’s a long-standing problem.
I am Joe, the absentee hamster owner/deity, from Shalom Auslander’s contribution to this “This American Life” episode. Sorry, Donut; sorry, Danish.
image: “me and spiderman,” by macwagen
2 Comments
And I promise to stop by your blog as well.
And thanks for stopping by The ConverStation.
Keep up the great work!
And now I better get busy tracking down some captions…
Matt,
What you’re doing is great! You’ve made some great personal connections… and you’ve pointed out some poignant and interesting moments in radio’s daily, unceasing stream.
But sometimes it may be useful to think of listening to public radio the way Billy Collins asks the reader to think about a poem:
http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/13974
“I want then to water-ski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.”
Other days, you may think about it differently.
I might enlist the power of a few good rss feeds to keep up. But I wouldn’t worry if I promised less. First and foremost, take care of yourself. Be strategic about your posts, and when you can, be brilliant.
You’re among friends!
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