This blog may offend - and that's OK.

Caution: This blog contains overt religious content.
It is rated CS - Common Sense and discretion are advised.

When I started this blog, I fully intended to keep it real and for the most part link it to a public relations or marketing concept so I'm going to start this with a big one. The public relations concept is called The Spiral of Silence. It's a real concept, taught to those gaining accreditation in PR in the book "Effective Public Relations." The spiral of silence refers to a phenomenon where a vast majority of the public disagrees with something, yet, whether through fear, feelings of helplessness or apathy says nothing. When the majority don't speak up, the silence deepens to a deafening roar. Rising to the top to make their voices heard are the vocal minority who are either fanatics or extremely passionate on one side or the other of an issue.

A good example may be the concept of prayer in school. While nearly every person I've ever spoken to supports prayer in school, the spiral of silence effectively allowed legislation to be approved that bans prayer. That's the effect of the spiral of silence.

I introduce this concept to discuss a recent story written in the Fort Myers News-Press by Sam Cook. Now, anyone from Lee County who read this article yesterday, especially my PR buddies, probably just drew in a sharp breath and thought "She is NOT going to go there in public is she?" Well - yes, actually I am. I am not a fanatic, but I am passionate about this subject. I hope it breaks the spiral of silence on this issue.

The Tim Tebow Bashing Story
To recap for those who didn't read the story, allow me to give a quick overview. Sam Cook is a columnist who writes about controversial topics and people in a very confrontational way. Most people either love his style or hate it. Before I go on, I'd like to state my opinion of Sam Cook because I think it's relevant to add credibility to my argument. I really respect Sam as a journalist. Do I think he writes some really bonehead articles sometimes? Absolutely. Frankly, I think he would be flattered by that comment - it's just the way he seems to be. But for the most part, he was hired to write a column based on his opinions that are meant to polarize and cause people to talk. He does that quite well. Sometimes, I even agree with him on some things. He calls it like he sees it and I find that somewhat refreshing, even if he does pick on something that's important to me - like my faith.

Yesterday, Sam, who states he is Lutheran, wrote about Tim Tebow and opined that Tim should not mix sports with religion. He stated that wearing his faith on his eye marks is offensive to many. He also lambasted Tebow's father's mission for being exclusive against every faith view that isn't theirs. OK. Guess what, as a Catholic who is deeply involved with my faith and in love with my God, I can respect that opinion. Why? Because I believe that for the most part, it's wrong. That's ok too. Luckily we live in the United States where Mr. Cook and I can disagree. Fine. This isn't the spiral of silence that I'm talking about. Believe me. Many many many people are telling Mr. Cook exactly what they think of him and his %#&!# opinions.

So, where is my beef?

I have a big problem with a couple of statements that Sam makes to justify his opinion that simply are not based in fact and are promolgated over and over again in the media. There are two things that we hear so often that many have started to believe to be true. The majority remains silent and the lie becomes fact in the world of public opinion.

First, Sam states (not verbatim) that a young Jewish football loving boy who idolizes Tebow cringes when he sees his hero wearing John 3:16 on his face for the cameras around the world to see.

Second, Sam states that we as Christians would be pretty upset if someone wrote God is Dead on their faces, yet we feel justified in promoting scripture verses.

Argument #1
Let's discuss the first argument. Where and how is Sam or the many other journalists who often use this type of argument, getting their facts? I have never spoken to any person of any other religion who is offended or put off because someone professes their faith in public. Maybe if they try to impose their religion on them and forcefully require them to convert, but sharing your faith in public can be a catalyst for learning more about other faiths. As a Christian, I would certainly feel no anger if a football player had the Star of David painted on their face. Are there fanatics who find it offensive? Sure,I'll bet there are, but why do we continue to cater to fanatics? I would also not be upset if a Muslim tatooed Allah! to their forehead. My actual thought would be, "Wow, that's great that the player has such conviction in their faith." Somewhere in the Bible that I believe in (I'm not a Bible quoter, so I don't know the verse - someone else will though, I'm sure of it) there is a quote from Jesus saying, "Anyone who is not against us is with us." Hmmm - what could that possibly mean? Do you think maybe Jesus would have loved Muslims and Hindus and even athiests while he walked the earth? What about Jews - oh, that's right, he was one. And he loved them too. We as Christians believe in our faith. Muslims believe in their faith and Jews in theirs. The list goes on. If that wasn't the case, we'd have one and only one religion. We live in America. We have freedom of religion. Therefore, if you want to show your faith, I'm proud of you for it. If you think faith is a bunch of nonsense and there is no God, I may pity you and pray for you, but I'm certainly not offended by that. If you worship Satan - I really pity you and fear for you, but I'm not offended by that either. How could I be? If you are proud of what you believe in and want to share your belief subtly by wearing it on your sleeve, eye marks or body in any way - I have the complete and total option of ignoring it. Therefore, I take to task this concept that a small Jewish boy would be offended or put off by Tebow's subtle proclamation of his belief. So many people use this argument to justify the elimination of religion and it's just not right. Prove to me that a majority of people feel that way and I may be swayed, but I've never been able to prove it. I have Jewish friends who told me that they receive Christmas cards all the time - some displaying the Christ child. Are they offended? No. They are pleased with the blessing the sender intended. I'll bet - I've never done a formal study - but I'll bet the majority feel that way.

Argument #2
The second item - Would Christians be offended if someone had God is Dead written under their cheeks? Well,duh, of course we would. This kind of argument seems valid until you dissect it a little. God is dead is not really a tenet of any religion. Possibly it's a statement by Satanists, but I doubt it. Athiests don't believe God exists, so it's not their mantra. God is dead is a mean spirited way of attempting to hurt someone's feelings. Back to my former argument. If that athiest or Satanist wrote on their cheeks, There is no God or I hate God, I would not be offended. I would pity and pray for them, but those two statements are true facts for that person, not a shot at someone's religion. If Tim Tebow wrote, "Athiests are idiots" I would think that truly would be offensive.

I guess the bottom line is that people of faith - any faith, or lack there of, have a right to display their beliefs in any way that they want to. We must stop allowing arbitrary examples of supposed political correctness to turn our country into an athiest nation. While Christians and others are criticized for spreading their beliefs and forced to defend unsubstantiated lies, the athiests are eating our lunch. Because of the spiral of silence, they are slowly furthering their cause against all religions. Sam Cook is a perfect example of this influence. Here's a man who claims to be Christian and has fallen hook line and sinker for the lies spread by non-believers. Why is it that athiests are permitted to get their agendas passed through governmental red tape while faithful people sit and watch with horror? It's the spiral of silence ladies and gentlemen. And I for one, am not willing to sit silent on this any longer. Is anyone with me? Or have I become a fanatic?

Headline Grabbers - Great PR Opportunities

Gaining publicity these days can be challenging. Unless there is a tragedy or controversy, your news may just be one of hundreds of pieces of information recieved by reporters daily. I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to PR. For those of you not in the biz, PR does not stand for publicity - which is uncontrolled, but free media coverage. It does not stand for press release. It does stand for Public Relations. Many people get that mixed up. I've heard many people incorrectly say, "We'd like to get some PR on this item. Can you get the press here to cover it?"

Why worry about semantics? Because one local company took the concept of PR and creatively used it to their advantage. How? By scouring the headlines and making their idea relevant to today's news. The company? GrubCab.com. The idea - a $2 discount for anyone who donates a non-perishable food item when they order from GrubCab. GrubCab is a meal delivery service that allows you to go online, order from one of many popular restaurants and have the food delivered to you hot and fresh at a reasonable cost. During the month of October, they are asking for food donations in return for a discount.

Today's headlines in the local newspaper described a food shortage crisis in Lee County. Many food banks are empty or struggling. GrubCab seized the opportunity to help the community. But they accomplished more than that. They built their public relations standing in the community. They are not seeking publicity - in other words, they are not saying, "Hey, look at this great thing we're doing - will the media cover it?" Instead, they are building up good will with their primary public - their customers.

By utilizing social media to spread the word, they are gaining even more recognition as locals who read the headlines today know how important it is to help get these food banks filled again. It's a win-win situation and not one press release had to be sent out. What do you think the chances are of a media person or blogger seeing this act of good will and reporting about it. (Uh, really good as evidenced by this post, I would say)

But even if they don't get any publicity, the positive P.R. they are getting is priceless. Even if someone doesn't buy today, they will have a good feeling about GrubCab and may buy tomorrow.

Today's lesson:

1. Grab headlines and support causes that gain publicity and are near to your heart.
2. Understand the difference between publicity and public relations.
3. Recognize opportunities that can help the community and build positive public relations.
   

Oh, and if you want to get a great lunch or dinner delivered to your door for just a few dollars for delivery, go to www.grubcab.com and place an order. Have a non-perishable food item ready and it will cost you even less - AND you can feel good about feeding someone less fortunate.

Kamasutra - The Art of Getting Global Media Attention

Who knew?
What started out as a silly complaint by an overactive helicopter parent, turned into a global news story overnight. Without even trying, my client was in the news in every country you can name - and some that you can't even pronounce - all for doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing - teaching an approved advanced placement class. There are many different ways I could go with this story - all of which would leave you shaking your head in disbelief, but I'm going to try to remain focused on the moral of the story - which is assess the damage and act accordingly. The second moral, keep your boss or client calm and ride the storm out. Here's the story.

One of my clients is a charter school company that manages schools throughout the state of Florida. Part of the curriculum in the high schools offer advanced placement classes - which are college level classes. These classes are accredited nationally, so the books that are used are used throughout the country in one form or the other in every high school. All of the content is similar. The book in question in this instance contains the offending word - Kamasutra.

Imagine my surprise when I received a call from a news reporter who was contacted by a parent and told that the high school was teaching Kamasutra in class.

Really?!

Man, I wish I had that class!

Guess, what class it is? World History. Oh. Well, let me take that back. I was hoping for health class, but I digress.

I would think that Kamasutra in a class like World History would be referring to the literary work from India written in the 4th century. I was right. One sentence in the entire book states that the Kamasutra was a literary work written in the 4th century that discusses relationships between males and females. That's it. Finito. End of sentence. End of story, right?

Well not according to the above referenced helicopter parents. They contend that having a word like that in the text is wrong because it's teaching the art of sex to 15 year old children. (Won't even blab on about how all 15 year olds know about the art of sex anyway!)

Hmmm. I had a hard time making that connection and here is where I could rail on the ridiculousness of these parents, but I'm not going to do that. I'll stick with the facts - which is something I wish the news reporter would have done, but she chose not to. Another area into which I could delve at great lengths, but I won't.

In a nutshell, even though other media called to check out the story and dismissed it for the nonsense that it was, one television station decided to run with it. They wanted me to get the principal to go on camera and I refused. I told them that the story didn't derserve to get any more credibility and we would simply issue a statement.

The story aired. It led with the complaint of the parents, incorrectly stated that a handful of parents were complaining instead of just the mother and stepfather of one boy, finished with half of the client's prepared statement, showed video of the wrong school and that was it. Right? No - that would be boring.

Two days later, after I had already forgotten the nonsense, I started getting news alerts in my email that Pakistan Times and Uzbekistan News and about 20 other countries that I've come to know as the "stans" all picked up part of the story. Every stan in the world, plus Beijing, Amsterdam, Phillipines and many many other countries, some of which I truly cannot pronounce led with a headline that said, "Kamasutra just a "word" at Florida school."

As I watched the news reports filing into my inbox, I was shocked. The lead sentence was "India's love tome, Kamasutra has caused a huge stir in Florida where one school has chosen to teach it as a vocabulary word."

Um, no it didn't. This was the complaint of one parent - no huge stir. The book - or a similar book with the same word - is used in all high schools that teach advanced placement classes. I was beginning to think that this was going to cause an international incident. What if the Kamasutra is as important to the Hindus as the Bible is to Christians. How would people react to what sounded like a major diss to an important literary work. OH BOY.

Well - had to kick into crisis mode, but took a step back and analyzed the situation. First, the name of the school is rather generic and therefore unrecognizable outside of the immediate geographic area. The article that was picked up on the newswire did not include the name of the management company. No other local news stations reported on the situation. So what does that leave us with?

1. No one knows who the school is outside of the local area, so in reality, it's not important that the name is out there.
2. The global news story will not be seen by local people near the school, so enrollment will not be affected.
3. The corporate identity was safe.
4. The story ended up sounding like the school did what it was supposed to do and the parents were a little wacko.

The net result - this wasn't really going to affect the school or its management company at all. Now I just had to convince the president of the company that it really wasn't a big deal. I gave him my synopsis and my recommendation that we do nothing - just let it pass. After I explained my thought process, he agreed. But then, I started to second-guess myself. As more "stans" came in and I heard that CNN and FoxNews picked it up, I wondered if I should do something more proactive.

Utilizing facebook, I contacted several PR pros who I admire greatly, laid out the situation and received feedback in a really cool forum. I was able to gather some of the best minds in the business in a single place where everyone could see each other's comments (It was in the private inbox - not on the wall) and respond with their opinions. Here's the net result of the plan:

1. Prepare a crisis communication plan to include designated spokesperson and key messages in the event that CNN or Tjekbaianstan News showed up at the school.
2. Contact the news director and explain the situation - requesting that the story be removed from the Website since there were inaccuracies in the story and misleading content.
3. Sit back and wait for the storm to pass, continually monitoring to make sure no collateral damage would occur.

Although that sounds like shutting the barn door after the horse has escaped, I realized quickly that there was no way to get in front of the tidal wave of news. I could only pick up the pieces of what was left behind. I wanted to make sure that anyone who goes to the news site in the future doesn't stumble across the story or be able to search it.

I have to say that it is both thrilling and scary to see how quickly news gets disseminated these days. I also learned an important lesson. No matter how minor an error is in a news report - tell the news director or editor. Make sure it is a true error - not just an annoying spin. I never complained to the news director that the fact that the parents said sex was being taught in the classrooms was untrue. It was true that the parents said that. Sex wasn't being taught in World History, but it was true that the parents said that. What I called to task was the incorrect comment about a handful of parents and the wrong video. Those were true errors. The one word that helped this go global - other than Kamasutra - was handful. Imagine how ridiculous the story would have sounded if it was accurate. "One student's parents are outraged that a word in a nationally accredited book that is used in hundreds of thousands of books across the United States is offensive to them personally."

Looking back, I wish I would have contacted the news director sooner and had the error fixed then. I never in a million years would have imagined that the news would go global. I figured that I would just let it go and choose another more significant battle. We live, we learn.

One more tip for all of you PR pros out there - if you want to get the media to cover your groundbreaking ceremonies in the future, offer a complimentary copy of the World History Advanced Placement Book as a prize for the first to arrive. I figure that if this book causes this much of a stir, it must be a pretty darn good book!

Cat Poop Turns to PR Gold

Imagine meeting with your boss (or client - which in the agency world is the same thing) and he/she tells you, "I'd like to introduce a coffee flavor that will cost five times as much as a regular specialty coffee and is made out of cat poop. Can you help me get the word out on this?"

Blink. Blink. Uh, what?

The first thought is probably, "You're kidding, right? Good one." But if you're a true PR professional like Melinda Isley of m creative you pretty quickly see the potential. $20 bucks for a cup of coffee that is brewed from beans that are eaten and digested by a special type of cat-like creature, then, well, eliminated - hmmm sounded like a PR story to her. And she was right. This story had enough of a WOW factor that it not only made the news, it was a front page story on Sunday. http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009909270359

Whether you think this is hysterically funny, immensely gross or incredibly decadant in the nastiest sort of way, chances are you'll read the story. You may never actually buy or taste the coffee, but you'll remember Bennett's Fresh Roast as a coffee cafe that really is different than the run-of-the-mill coffee shops found at every corner. Now THAT's a good PR accomplishment. Only time will tell if this strategy pays off, but my PR hat is off to Melinda for taking something that seems kind of, well, challenging to say the least, and turning into a great story for her client. Also to note, she used an age-old tactic that works wonders. She got the reporters involved. That's almost a story guarantee. If you can get a reporter to sample or interact with something you want them to report on, you'll have success. She planned a pre-tasting event for media prior to the public availability. The reporters simply couldn't resist. It's what they live for. They love to try something themselves so that they can accurately relate the facts.

Not all reporters are thrilled with the opportunity, but most will take advantage. I had an opportunity once to invite a reporter to go on an anti-gravity airplane flight at Kennedy Space Center for Charter Schools USA. The reporter was thrilled and scared to death. She thanked me and cursed me for arranging it. The flight travelled at zero gravity to allow the participants to truly experience weightlessness like they do in outerspace. The effects could be a bit unnerving and many well, throw up. The cost was pretty high, but we were able to offer the seat at no expense to the reporter. Sadly, at the last minute, her seat was no longer available. I can't really express the sound of relief in her voice. "I'm a grandmother!" she said. "I simply could NOT pass this opportunity up, but man am I glad I didn't have to do it." I have a feeling, her thoughts may have been similar had I offered her a hot smoking cup of cat poop. Either way, the resulting stories were really good. She wrote a great story about the anti-gravitational flight and Melinda's reporters wrote a great story about the cat poo coffee. This is the classic story of turning lemons into lemonade...or better yet... cat poop into gold.

When is it Edgy and When is it Sleazy

Having a business name like Edge Communications and promising to give your business the Edge, I am left wondering how far one can go to the edge without slipping off and getting into sleazy. We all struggle with ways to stand out from the crowd. Look different. Make a splash. This weekend, one of my clients, the Vein and Laser Treatment Center is sponsoring the Just Us Girls event with Clear Channel radio. The event is being billed as the ultimate sleep-over and features businesses that cater to women. There will be free services like manicures, hair styling, vitamins, massages, and other fun things. The fun goes on after the vendors close up as guests may stay and dance the night away until they are so tired, they retire to their rooms at the Coconut Point Hyatt. There will be drinks and food and lots of frivolity. Last year's show was a blast. Moms came with their grown-up daughters, friends came and the bonds of sisterhood were evident everywhere. The venue is ripe for edginess. The client agreed to the posters that I've attached and I think they are fine, but I'm wondering where a marketer draws the line. We coined the phrase, "Get Lazed at the Vein and Laser Treatment Center" last year and are carrying the theme through this year. We decided to add these posters as well as some others that are a little less sexy. Personally, I am really proud of these posters and think Janine at Dzine Studio did a wonderful job on the artwork. The response I've gotten from some of my confidants has been positive...some remarking that sex does really sell.

Now where is my dilemma? It's my own disgust as I listened to a radio commericial for a local transmission company that gives a shift about its customers. I know this because the company told me that they give a shift about their customers right there on the radio. My first thought was, "They do what??" Then I was somewhat disgusted. It just didn't sound right. A little too crude for my virgin ears maybe. Just a few moments ago I approved a radio commercial encouraging people to get Lazed at the Vein and Laser Treatment Center. Am I just as sleazy as the "shifty" transmission people? I guess only time will tell. I will post an update as to the response we get. But I'd love to hear some opinions on the line we draw in the sand. Where is that elusive edge that we all want to live on?

A BRAND new issue for not-for-profits

Branding. It's a word that gets tossed around like a football. Some perceive it as a great big overwhelming concept. Others think of it as a logo. By way of definition, branding is everything that makes your organization who it is. It's the personality, ethics, image, reputation and environment you want to display every day to every stakeholder. OK, that does sound pretty overwhelming doesn't it? Especially if you are a not-for-profit organization and everybody tells you that a perfect example of branding is McDonalds or Starbucks. Those organizations spend BILLIONS of dollars to build their brand. Most of us don't have those kinds of budgets, right? One of my favorite sayings that seems applicable here is..."How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." The elephant here is the big scary brand concept. So, let's start with the first bite. Where to begin? Well, let's assume you've already established your business' personality. The problem comes in when you try to build that brand. Trying to employ cost-saving measurements, artwork and photography are often done "in-house" by people who are pretty good at that sort of thing. What gets lost is consistency. Does that mean you have to pay top dollar? Not necessarily. Look at your stakeholders. Are there any professionals associated with your organization who would be willing to lend their services as volunteers or for a trade dollar amount? The only stipulation would be that they are normally paid for their services. In other words, don't include a writer on your team who is a pretty good writer - try to get someone who gets paid for that service. Here are some rules to follow that will help with the consistency issue.

When to hire a professional.
When you want the finished product to show who you really are.

If you are a dog groomer that is working from home, a black and white flyer created on your laptop in Publisher may be ok. However, if you are an organization that is trying to attract high quality investors or stakeholders, you better look like you are a professional organization.

Some must-have professionals on your team should be:
1) Professional photographers. You need to get a library of signature photos that take your breath away. These photos will be used every time you are trying to communicate who you are. These photos will be used on brochures, Web sites, newsletters, posters, billboards, everything. They will become synonomous with your name. When someone sees these photos, they'll say, "Oh, that's XYZ organization."

2) Professional graphic designers. In today's world, there will always be a talented high school student who is pretty darn good at creating Web sites and drawing pictures for a cheap price. Don't use them. The problem is that they don't have the background or skills to understand how their artwork fits into the bigger picture and strategy. Many logos are beautiful - until you make them small enough to fit on a business card or large enough to fit on a billboard. A professionally trained graphic designer thinks about all the applications and designs a look and feel that can and should be carried out through every communication distributed by the organization. A good graphic designer will be able to develop templates that can be easily updated by in-house staff. BUT make sure stringent graphic standards are adhered to. In other words, don't allow a talented in-house staffer to make minor adjustments to the final design. A little tweak here and a tiny nudge there and you end up with a totally different animal. Also - just a caveat - all graphic designers are not Web designers. When you hire one, make sure they have Web background. See #4 below for more on Web designers.

3) Marketing/PR professionals. Use a professional wherever you can for consultation. The challenge many marketing/PR professionals find is that by nature, they are very helpful people. Problem solvers. For not-for-profits, that can seem like a dream-come-true. For a marketing professional, that can be a tremendous time drain. If they can't afford it, not-for-profits often rely on pro-bono services from marketing professionals. That's OK, as long as parameters are set. A good consultant will put plans into motion that can be implemented by staff. For-profit businesses often rely on consultants to handle the implementation as well. Budget is always an issue, but let's face it, for-profits usually have a bigger budget for this than not-for-profits. Utilize consultants to see if your message is consistent. Is it the right message? Are we delivering the message through the right channels? Does it fit in with our overall brand? Is our brand still viable or does it need to adapt? Are we properly communicating the mission of our organization in everything we do? How can we get the most from our marketing budget? Use these consultants as a living breathing "HOW TO" manual. Just don't have them implement unless they've agreed to a certain number of hours or you can pay them to do it. Their time is the only thing they have to sell. Don't ask them to give it all away.

4) Web designers. It is so easy to create your own Web site these days. Programs make it a snap to get a Web presence and everyone needs a Web presence, right? WRONG. It is better to not have a Web presence than to have a site that looks like it was developed by an amateur. Your Web site should start with a navigational plan that lays out the exact objectives of your site. A Web site should be approached in the exact same manner as any other marketing tool. What is the objective? What do you want it to accomplish? How will it contribute to your branding? Sometimes Web designers are not great graphic designers (same as some graphic designers are not great Web designers) You may not get a two for one, but find the funds to do this right or don't do it at all.


OK, I lied. This really IS a big overwhelming concept. And that bite was a pretty big monster. Next blog, we can talk about how to incorporate branding into your everyday activities. For now, today's bite is "Know when to hire a professional to help you develop your brand!" Happy elephant eating everyone.

Make No Mistake - Freedom Still Rings

I had the opportunity this week to share with my high schooler about 9/11. She was 6 years old at the time and really had no memory of the events that happened that day. Retelling was reliving. It gave me a deep sense of purpose to help young people today understand. I think I feel like those who experienced Pearl Harbor. While we as a new generation know what happened, it was so far removed that our hearts do not break when we think about it. Our tears do not fall for those who went through it. Probably not so with someone over the age of 65. Pearl Harbor is probably as raw and alive for them when they retell it as 9/11 is for us. When she asked, "What was it like, Mom? What were you doing when it happened?" I was transported back to my office at Priority Marketing. I was talking on the phone to Teri Hansen, the company's owner and president. We were interrupted by a telephone call from her husband, then the chief of EMS. We learned about the tragedy, but didn't have a television. The Internet was still very new and was innundated - so although we were able to get some glimpses of what happened, the system was completely overloaded. After we sat there stunned and in shock for a while, I tried to gather myself and "get back to work" I called a client who said, "Colleen, I can't deal with this right now, I'm watching New York City being destroyed." It was like a slap I needed. What was I thinking? You can't go back to normal when something like this is going on. In fact, an event like 9/11 changes you forever. After the plane went down in Pennsylvania, I began to panic. How many more planes would fall from the sky? Was my family safe? My father was staying just outside of Dover Airforce Base - was he safe? We all came home that night and hugged each other. I cried and went to my friend's house. Her husband was just finishing up his two weeks as an Army reservist and she received a call that he wouldn't be returning anytime soon and to bring some supplies to Homestead. After the shock and pain settled, I noticed something though that I had never felt or experienced in my life to that point. Patriotism. I watched my brother return from Vietnam and be persecuted. No heros. I watched the President of the United States resign in humilation. No pride. I watched our world trudge along while citizens became the "me" generation and the sense of entitlement to all that was good started to emerge. The other guy wasn't important and our nation was a joke. Then, 9/11 changed all that in my eyes and heart. For the first time, I was proud to be an American. Watching people pull together to help and feeling a deep need to be one of those people overwhelmed us all. Our generation - the Generation Xers - never felt connected to "The Cause" as the Baby Boomers often did. We felt hopeless and cynical. But 9/11 changed that for a while. Instead of me-first, we watched our nation step aside out of courtesy. People smiled at each other more. The bigger picture came into view. People were scurrying to get flags and for an entire generation, we finally understood what the flag really meant. For the first time in a generation, we listened to the Star Spangled Banner and cried. Wow. Never really listened to those words before. Now I understood what they meant. Our flag was still there! Following 9/11, Tom Sterbens, a pastor at a local church recorded an amazing song called Freedom Still Rings. The lyrics are unbelievable. At Priority Marketing, Teri dedicated her staff to produce a video to accompany the song. The cd and video were to be sold with proceeds to go to the families of the firefighters and police who were killed. The team consisted of Teri Hansen, Olivia Rill, Christine Polito, Kevin Owen, Gary Sharp, Lindsey Grimes and me. I hope I didn't forget anyone, but those are the ones I remember. We spent days either searching for photos, putting together the video or handling everything else while the video was in production. I am going to try and post this video - I found it on someone's MySpace. I hope they don't mind. I thought about the after affects of 9/11. It inspired artists to use their talents - whatever those talents were - to help make a difference. Musicians put on benefit concerts, Bruce Springsteen wrote an entire album - The Rising - to memorialize the event. Country singers wrote rebel songs to inspire patriotism. Painters created visual memories, sculptors crafted breathtaking sculptures. As our civilization has done forever - we tried to make an unspeakable horror into something beautiful. I think we did this because of the patriotism aspect. That burning feeling inside that you are part of something much bigger. In Europe, if something like this happens, their neighbors say, "Boy, that's a shame that happened to THEM" In the United States, if one our states is attacked - it happened to US! We developed an immediate brotherhood with our kin in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania. Some of the girls from our office bought tickets to support the crashed tourism industry in New York. They just went to take in a show. That gesture was felt by many New Yorkers who felt vulnerable and alone. These courageous girls (remember - flying was not exactly a popular mode of transportation at the time) took the time and money to fly all the way from Florida to New York, just to let New Yorkers know they cared. We became all part of a bigger family. So was 9/11 a tragedy? You betcha. The worst in our current memory. But our God, the one who was honored by the president's appeal after 9/11 to the country to PRAY, gave us all the courage and strength to pull together and get through it. Please don't allow our children to forget 9/11 like we have forgotten Pearl Harbor. Don't let this fade into history as just another bad thing that happened. Let's help them realize that no matter how bad things get, there is always hope. Americans are good people. Yes, there are bad apples. Yes, our government is a little shaky sometimes. Yes, we argue alot about silly things...and important things. But in the end, we are STILL the most amazing group of people in the entire world. Nowhere in this world is there a land mass the size of the United States that would foster the brotherhood we feel here in the UNITED States. We can go to bed feeling sure that if something really bad happens in Florida - our brothers and sisters in California and Kentucky, New York and South Dakota - all of those other States will be there for us. We may not always agree, but I can guarantee that we are a nation of honorable men, women and children who when pushed will push back to protect our land and those who live in it. I love you all. God Bless each of us. I've posted the video - but I'm not certain it will play. I'll also post it on my facebook page. We can never ever forget.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=6602959