WLKM Radio 95.9 FM
It is hard to believe that 2011 is just hours away from being over. It seems like the year just started and here we are wrapping it up. As we sit on the doorstep of another new year, it is again time to sit back and reflect on the year that was.
So much happened this past year that it would be nearly impossible to recap it all here in my short little column. Dictators and terrorist leaders fell by the wayside, we had a flurry of court cases that had many glued to the TV and of course the political gridlock and auditions for the 2012 Presidential race took front and center.
Regis and Oprah signed off the airwaves, at least for a little while, and many of us just could not get enough of those Royals from England and that little, tiny wedding they had. Maybe you were not aware that Prince William tied the knot this past year?
Stars got married while others divorced. Ashton and Demi, Arnold and Maria, J-Lo and Marc Anthony all filed for divorce citing one reason or another. Or in the case of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries, both happened in a span of just 72 days. Why in the world are they compared to the American version of the Royal Family?
And that was one of the biggest stories of the year in the eyes of the media. Sure, the killing of Osama was huge, protesters occupied parks, and we lost the brilliant mind of Steve Jobs but the media just could not get enough of Kim and her marital woes.
My question is; why do we care so much about it? What attracts so many to the trash, sleaze and stories of those who are just in it for the fame or money? Why do we pay so much attention to stories like this and not to those of people like Marshall and Winnie Kuykendall of New Mexico who celebrated their 82nd wedding anniversary this past Valentine’s Day? You heard me right, their 82nd wedding anniversary.
Married on Feb. 14, 1929, Marshall, 103 and Winnie, 102, married just five months after they met. The secret to their marriage is simple. “When we got married we took an oath to stay together until death do us part,” they said. The couple has a daughter who has been married for 56 years.
Isn’t that a better story to focus on rather than some marriage that was built up for ratings and publicity? I think we all can learn a lot from the Kuykendalls and the media should bring us more of this kind of news about real people rather than that other mindless drivel. Maybe if our youth had more positive people to look up to, eh, why even waste my time on that. No one is going to listen anyway.
Obviously you have to take the good with the bad and both have a place in our everyday lives. Take the tragic shooting this past January in Arizona in which 18 people were shot leaving six dead. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was among the wounded after taking a bullet to the head. While that event was tragic and needed to be covered, the aftermath showing her remarkable progress and recovery from her wounds has been nothing short of a miracle, even with the sorrow and pain that surrounded this senseless act.
But that is what we have to do. We have to find the diamond in the rough, the light at the end of the tunnel, the sunshine through the rain. The world is a bad enough place, with so many problems suffocating us, that we need to take note of the moments and the people that make things just a little bit better.
Here is to a great 2012 to us all! May it be a “Winning” year for us all.
