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Speaking Up Is The Only Way To Get Heard…
The other day, I stumbled upon an Edmonton Journal article talking about a local talent show. I immediately thought of my cousin Rory, and how neat it would be for him to be footbagging in a talent show. To my utter surprise, he was! In fact, this Journal article focused on Rory. Usually this would be a great thing. Rory loves footbag, he loves doing it, and he loves promoting it, so getting an article written about him footbagging should be good news. Unfortunately, this spin on this article (there is always spin in journalism it seems) was how people who do things like footbag, or whatever else are not talented, they are just wasting their time. If this article was about a nameless “footbagger” I likely would have just been slightly miffed and moved on. But it was not. It was about my cousin. It repeatedly featured him by name. It was just wrong.
Something had to be done. So, I did something. I wrote the journalist who penned the piece. Here is what I wrote:
Thanks. You have the honour of being the first journalist whom I felt
compelled to write to in response to an article. Your piece entitled
“Canadian Idle? Where’s the talent on this night?” bothered me.
Now, let me get this out of the way first, Rory Dawson is my cousin. Is
that important? Yes and no. True, it gave me the motivation to actually
send you these comments. However, it could have been anyone else you
wrote about, displaying any manner of talent, and your words would have
been just as wrong and hurtful.
A talent, by your very own definition, is a gift from the gene pool.
Simply put, this means an ability that most people do not have. Footbag
is a skill. Anyone can kick a footbag. Just like anyone can skate around
with a stick on ice (or anyone can be a judge at a talent contest). But
it takes talent to be able to rise above the others, and excel at
something. Rory is not the best footbagger on the planet, but he sure is
darn good. The essence of what you saw that night only took him about a
year to learn. That, in my estimation anyway, indicates he surely has a
talent for it. And yes, your ability to do the Vulcan peace sign is a
talent… Many people can not do it. Is it a talent that interests
others? Hardly, unless you are at a Sci-Fi convention. But it is still a
talent. It sounds like Rory’s footbagging caught the interest of a good
number of people in the room that night. You know, not everyone likes
Wayne Gretzky or hockey, but does that mean he does not have talent?
You go on to say “They love it so much that they can’t not do it.
Gretzky was like that as a kid. You couldn’t keep him off the rink.” You
can not keep a footbag away from Rory. It is in his blood, it defines a
part of him. There are certainly individuals out there who, with a
footbag, can do thinks like Gretzky could do with a puck. A large and
growing number of these talented people actually do it as a job. They
compete for prize money, as well as do promotional tours while getting
paid by the likes of Adidas.
I do not intend to change anything with this letter. Just as your
article changes nothing in the world. I simply wanted a chance to put a
different perspective on the definition of talent. Maybe the next time
you have the choice to belittle someone, or inspire them, you will take
the high road.
Then again, maybe you really are Edmonton’s Simon Cowell, in which case
you just lived up to the reputation. And yes, even purposely getting
people to dislike you is talent.
To his credit, Scott McKeen, the Edmonton Journal writer, quickly wrote me back a response. He clarified his intentions in the original piece, and apologized for the way it came across. This was nice. I did not expect a response, so I figured getting one was a bonus. Well, it seems mine was not the only commentary he received. More then a few people must have contacted him. Enough to prompt him to give me a phone call. Again, he repeated his regret for painting Rory and footbag in a poor light. Sometimes, it has to rain a little before the sun comes out. Scott is going to do the right thing. He is going to contact Rory directly, and in Monday’s paper, there is supposed to be a new article, this one focusing on the footbag community in Edmonton.
This has brightened my day.
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