http://donsurber.blogspot.com/2015/01/i-had-great-year.html?spref=fbThursday, January 01, 2015
I had a great year
2014 was a great year for me. My closest sister died, and after 30 years, the Charleston Daily Mail fired me. Both events made my life better.
My sister's death came after much pain for her. She spent 11 months in a hospice, then she fought cancer for four more months at home and in a nursing home. She was one tough cookie.
My nieces, her daughters, asked me to deliver the eulogy. And I knew the theme: family. I talked to them to get the facts right. I went light on my personal recollections; it was not about me. And I wrote a very beautiful eulogy. It may be the best piece I ever wrote; you will never read it. I wrote it for two people: my nieces.
Delivering what I wrote was another matter. Emotionally draining. Once again, it is easier to write than to speak. But when I woke up the next morning, I felt great. My mother, who has known me longer than anyone, told me I needed such a cathartic moment. I got to say goodbye.
My sister was a special lady who touched many, many lives. The room was large. It was standing room only. She was a school cook. Just a cafeteria lady. In my career I met senators, governors, and war heroes. My sister would hold her own with any of them. Had Michelle Obama listened to my sister, the nation would have avoided the food fight now being waged in our school cafeterias.
As for getting fired, it was a relief. The liberal Charleston Gazette bought the paper 10 years ago, halved the staff, canceled subscriptions, and told us the paper would fold on March 31, 2005. Unfortunately, the Department of Justice intervened citing the antiquated -- and unconstitutional -- Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. So nearly 10 years later, I was still there, unwanted by Betty Chilton and the rest of the real owners of the newspaper. Continual IT problems were the reason I abruptly quit blogging for the paper in 2012. I had it. I should have left then.
On October 25, I wrote something rude and crude on this blog, that Michael Brown was an animal who needed to be put down. That was wrong. It was a tragic but justified homicide. There was an online campaign by Daily Kos and other liberals sites to fire me.
So be it.
I didn't fight the firing. I didn't beg for the job. I didn't argue. In fact, I knew I would get canned eventually over something minor. The Gazette didn't want me. When the axe landed, I thanked my Daily Mail editors and told them they were good bosses. They were. The editorial page editor took it hardest. We had only been together for a little over a year, but we made a good team. I wish him and the rest of the newspaper staff well.
After the firing, I drove home with the top down. First thing I did when I got home was cancel my subscriptions. Not in spite. I just had to move on.
Oh, being fired bummed me out for a few days. I ain't a superman. But I quickly got over it. I guess the best comparison is to a divorce 10 years after the marriage died.
The toughest thing I ever had to do was tell my wife they fired me. She shrugged it off and said, well, you got to do what you wanted to do for 30 years. Find another job or retire. It will be all right. Financially, I am OK, but I am looking for work as it would be nice to retire at 66 instead of 61.
Our eldest children took it harder than I thought they should. But young people think death or being fired are terrible.
So I had to be Dad for my thirtysomethings. I had to once again set a good example. I comforted them about the loss of their aunt as I hope I comforted her daughters. As for being fired, we straightened that out. I did not understand why the firing bothered them; I had overlooked the simple fact that all their lives that is what they knew me as, a newspaperman. But I am not that.
What I learned this year is I am not an editorial writer or a columnist. I am a husband, a father, an uncle, a son, and a brother. And I found, I am not as bad at it as I thought I was.
Posted by Don Surber at 1/01/2015 12:00:00 PM
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