Be Good To Yourselves, and Each Other

Here We Go Again

Well it has to be said, so we may as well get it out of the way right off the bat. Welcome back returning students, and welcome to those of you first year students who have just been dropped into our cozy little berg here in the Northern California valley. You may not realize it yet, but you’ve done well for yourselves already. Chico can be many things for you, it’s up to you to get out there and figure out just what those will be. There aren’t too many places I know of where you can spend the day by the river, the evening in a pub, and the nights soaking in a rich, rocking local music scene. Take advantage of everything Chico has to offer.

The Sad Saga of Jerry Springer

Most of you are probably familiar with late-night talk television show host Jerry Springer. Some of you may be aware that Springer was once the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio; and those of you familiar with this detail of his political past may also know that he was discovered to have been frequenting a brothel in Kentucky. What facilitated this dubious discovery was to the fact that he’d paid for the services offered therein with a personal check. The popular sentiment is that, this personal check, and the fact that Springer was busted visiting a house of ill repute, ended Springer’s political career.

This is erroneous. In fact, Springer’s prostitution/personal check episode took place well before he was actually elected to the office of mayor; it happened when he was a member of the Cincinnati city council. Springer actually managed to rehabilitate his image after the prostitution scandal, and did it so well that he was elected mayor a few years later. After serving effectively as the mayor, Springer moved into a role as a local newscaster. He was extremely popular and drove the ratings of the newscast he joined from worst to first. It was in his role as newscaster that Springer coined the catch-phrase that ends each episode of the Jerry Springer Show: “Be good to yourselves, and each other.”

Political insiders will tell you that Jerry Springer was one of the very best natural politicians they’ve ever seen – right up there with Bill Clinton. He had that innate ability to get people to support him, even when they didn’t agree with him. He has a personality that builds bridges. Springer is still active in Democratic politics and will make occasional appearances at fund-raisers and conventions. He has never lost his desire to play the politics game.

When Springer started his talk show, he envisioned it as another “Phil Donahue” type show – a biting show that would delve into the pertinent issues of the day. Early guests included Oliver North and Jesse Jackson. Unfortunately, the ratings were low. A new producer came in and decided to turn things around, and the modern incarnation of the Jerry Springer Show, complete with shoe-throwing and a regular parade of freaks, was born.

Don’t be Hard

My advice, for what it’s worth, to those of you starting out in school and figuring out who you are is this: Be kind. Don’t screw the next guy over, don’t act hard. It seems like there is a lot of pressure these days to act tough, hard, gangster. Forget that noise. There are people who have to be hard, because life has been cruel to them; and life has a tendency to harden us all over time. Eventually, no matter whom you are or where you come from, life will deal you a vicious blow, and it will be difficult to get through. You will become hardened by events that befall yourself and others. The battle at that point will become fighting to stay supple, un-cynical and kind. In the mean-time, don’t pretend to be hard. Be careful with the people around you. Understand that relationships you form, with friends and lovers, family; they are precious, and they can be damaged irreparably.

As you go through this world understand that your actions, and your inactions, affect those around you.

Keep in mind that when something needs to be done, and you don’t do it, someone else will – because someone else has to. Be the one that acts consciously and with compassion.

I cannot guarantee that by living this way your life will be made any easier. More likely, if you choose to be the one who acts with consciousness and compassion, your life will be that much more difficult than the life of the next person. But hell, if you wanted an easy life you picked the wrong planet to be born on.

madbob@madbob.com