I might have been on TV today, maybe.
I was driving to work this morning, and while taking the ramp onto the freeway that delivers commuters downtown I noticed an odd-looking apparatus on top of a car in the other lane and several hundred feet in front of me.
My only option: accelerate, pass, and inspect this car, it had decals that from a distance were illegible, the whole thing was intriguing.
Passing the car at about 60 miles an hour provided enough opportunity to examine the device on the car as well as some of the stickers. It was some sort of square cube, mounted on a tall stand and it had a sign that said “LIVE” and the car was tattooed with the identification and call letters of the local affiliate of one of the national networks.
It must be a camera, and it has to be part of the traffic report, and it must be some sort of “live look at traffic conditions” and I might have been on camera, even for just a moment or so.
Cool!
Then I remembered that my hair was such a mop of unmanageable, hideous, tangles that I just kind of left it, and it had been a couple of days since the last shave, and my shirt has a slight tear, and oh my what a mess. No worries, I wasn’t doing anything embarrassing. So, that was good, but it brought back some memories.
One time, long ago, I was watching a Monday Night Football game. This game was so long ago that the announcers were “Gifted” Frank Gifford, “Dandy” Don Meredith, and Howard “the Mouth” Cosell. Yes, I am that old.
The television camera would scan the crowd, as they still do, and settled on interesting, or attractive people. Eventually, it settled on a woman, elegantly dressed, with shining, beautiful, flowing hair, a woman of such exquisite beauty she seemed the perfect counterpoint to the brutality of the game. She looked the picture of taste, class, and grace.
And then she put her finger in her nose, right there on national television. Frank Gifford proved his “gift’ extended beyond the field when he said “almost perfect,” as the camera hastily moved away from the woman.
My brief encounter with potential TV stardom and the potentially disastrous consequences of uncombed hair and a scruffy looking beard left me thinking of that woman, and what had happened to her. Had that one brief indiscretion changed her life? Was she overlooked for potential promotions, was she denied jobs modeling fashion wear, did her husband leave her?
Did that one mis-timed simple act cost her a happy life? Probably not, there was no YouTube then, no social media to spread this picture all over the world. Today, if a person were caught on camera doing something like that, it would be everywhere.
She would have become an internet sensation.
In the novel “1984” George Orwell posited that the government would become so powerful, and all-encompassing, that it would intrude into every corner of life, “Big Brother” would watch every move, and swoop in at the slightest provocation, whisking an offender away and threatening to let rats eat their face off. Orwell was half right, he foresaw the constant observation and the encroachments on privacy and freedom.
But, he had no way of knowing about government incompetence, the sequester, and furlough days, and the constant, endless, whining sound coming from the nations capitol. But, the intrusion is still there, and as a citizen, you need to exercise great caution, one wrong move and your life could be ruined. To paraphrase the Great Swamp Philosopher, Pogo “we have met Big Brother, and they are us.”
But don’t worry, I have your back.
—
The Good Men Project is different from most media companies. We are a “participatory media company”—which means we don’t just have content you read and share and comment on but it means we have multiple ways you can actively be a part of the conversation. As you become a deeper part of the conversation—The Conversation No One Else is Having—you will learn all of the ways we support our Writers’ Community—community FB groups, weekly conference calls, classes in writing, editing platform building and How to Create Social Change.
◊♦◊
Here are more ways to become a part of The Good Men Project community:
Request to join our private Facebook Group for Writers—it’s like our virtual newsroom where you connect with editors and other writers about issues and ideas.
Click here to become a Premium Member of The Good Men Project Community. Have access to these benefits:
- Get access to an exclusive “Members Only” Group on Facebook
- Join our Social Interest Groups—weekly calls about topics of interest in today’s world
- View the website with no ads
- Get free access to classes, workshops, and exclusive events
- Be invited to an exclusive weekly “Call with the Publisher” with other Premium Members
- Commenting badge.
Are you stuck on what to write? Sign up for our Writing Prompts emails, you’ll get ideas directly from our editors every Monday and Thursday. If you already have a final draft, then click below to send your post through our submission system.
If you are already working with an editor at GMP, please be sure to name that person. If you are not currently working with a GMP editor, one will be assigned to you.
◊♦◊
Are you a first-time contributor to The Good Men Project? Submit here:
◊♦◊
Have you contributed before and have a Submittable account? Use our Quick Submit link here:
◊♦◊
Do you have previously published work that you would like to syndicate on The Good Men Project? Click here:
Join our exclusive weekly “Call with the Publisher” — where community members are encouraged to discuss the issues of the week, get story ideas, meet other members and get known for their ideas? To get the call-in information, either join as a member or wait until you get a post published with us. Here are some examples of what we talk about on the calls.
Want to learn practical skills about how to be a better Writer, Editor or Platform Builder? Want to be a Rising Star in Media? Want to learn how to Create Social Change? We have classes in all of those areas.
While you’re at it, get connected with our social media:
- To join our Facebook Page, go here.
- To sign up for our email newsletter, go here.
- To follow The Good Men Project on Twitter, go here.
◊♦◊
However, you engage with The Good Men Project—you can help lead this conversation about the changing roles of men in the 21st century. Join us!
◊♦◊
We have pioneered the largest worldwide conversation about what it means to be a good man in the 21st century. Your support of our work is inspiring and invaluable.
The Good Men Project is an Amazon.com affiliate. If you shop via THIS LINK, we will get a small commission and you will be supporting our Mission while still getting the quality products you would have purchased, anyway! Thank you for your continued support!
—
Originally published on Life, Explained
—
Photo by Max Bender on Unsplash