I’m Dropping the Ball

My list of pet-peeves grows by the year; sometimes by the hour.

One peeve is Hypocrites.

Another is when I speak and act like one of my peeves, even unintentionally.

When I started this tome, my intent was to record for posterity who I am and why. Not because I want to add my name to the historical greats, but because I don’t want to be forgotten by my son or Nik’s future children – and so on, and so on, and so on.

I am fortunate to be able to remember all four of my grandparents and two of my great-grandmothers. Nik’s maternal grandfather passed away when Nik was 8, and he tells me he doesn’t remember this grandfather, what he said, or how he made sacrifices on Nik’s behalf.

Though I have many fond memories of my grandparents, my ability to recall what they said and remember their positions on important issues are fading. I’ve been reading a biography of Thomas Jefferson for more than a year now. Because of the large numbers of letters the writer of the Declaration of Independence and America’s third president wrote, the author, Jon Meacham, was able to intricately document Jefferson’s life. In many ways, I know more about an 18^th century and 19^th century historical figure than I know members of my own family.

Such is the case of my maternal great-grandfather William Francis Boyer. Great-granddad William was a singer in a traveling minstrel show, and was in San Francisco the day the Earth shook in 1906. I have held and read the letter he wrote to his mother describing that event, how he sought safety and how he assisted others. Through his “voice,” a man who died more than a century ago taught me more about that moment than what I learned in school.

So why do I recognize the importance and value of getting my thoughts and experiences recorded and I don’t do it? Here lies the hypocrisy.

During my 20-year journalism career, I received numerous praises and a couple of awards for my editorials and columns. I’ve written on many topics – some serious, some funny, some on news and issues, some on sports. One commonality is I thought ahead about each article.

A majority of the hundreds of thousands of articles I’ve authored were stories about the event or meeting or game that I was covering. I thought ahead about how I was going to construct the article, but the “meat” of the story was given to me. But an editorial or column is my creation – my “voice.” I want you, the reader, to enjoy what I write. In some cases, I want to influence your opinion and lead you to question reality and yourself.

I don’t want you to read 500 to 1,000 words and think “Really?”, “Why?”, “There’s five minutes I’ll never get back.”

But the reality is I am not that deep. I am not overly scholarly or learned on all topics. Often, something quirky will cross my mind and make me think about reality and myself. By the way, “quirky” is one of my favorite words. So is “plethora.”

I don’t have a problem with future generations thinking “that guy was quirky” because that is what I am, along with sometimes serious, often comical, and occasionally irrelevant.   

Shortly after beginning my research into my ancestry, I realized that, over time, entire lives get reduced to statistics, a few unidentified photos, and a tombstone. I want my life to mean more. I don’t want future generations to wonder why I did something or not do something. And if I happen to be in the right place at the right time for something historic, I think it will be really cool for someone to say “My great-granddad Scott was there, and I know he was because he wrote about it.”

So I am going to try to write more on this blog in honor of the future. I may not always share what I write on Facebook or some other media, but it will be here.

And if you end up thinking “Really?”, “Why?” just
remember I’m quirky.