Testing God - I Knew There Was A Reason I Majored In Journalism

The poor reporter had caught me at a bad time, having just had another sad, sad case ship from a West Virginia track to Bethlehem Farm. To say the least, I spoke my mind about the industry that I once loved. The lack of concern at the upper echelons of racing about the cruelty that was allowed to go on now had me really pissed off.

All the years I worked on the “front side” of the racetrack, my job was to put a good spin on the sport—even when bad things happened. And I did love the sport, but there comes a time when those of us who have a voice need to speak up for those who don’t. Animals, like children, have to depend on others to protect them. So even thought I had been speaking up loudly inside the racing industry for years to no avail, I now aired some dirty laundry to the mainstream media.

The girl in front of the camera looked a bit taken aback, and I apologized for my tirade. I then did my best to give her the “feel good” piece that she came for that would benefit both non-profit programs.

Not a month later, I received a phone call from the same reporter, who had covered the Turfway spill for Star 64 in Cincinnati. She remembered my comments about the overuse of drugs and the unsoundness of some racehorses, and decided to do a little investigative reporting.

“I need to ask you a big favor,” the reporter on the phone said. “I’ve managed to get some documents about that breakdown under the Freedom of Information Act. Problem is, I’m not sure what I’m looking at—it’s like hieroglyphics! I was hoping you might help me.”

“Sure,” I told her, my own journalistic juices beginning to flow. “You can fax them through to me.”

“Well…I think I’ll have to FedEx them,” she said. “There’s like 500 pages.”

Oh, my…..

Daily Notes: I received a call from my friend who appeared in one of the “back in the day” pics I posted with this blog. She just wanted to let me know that although she has been working 12 hour shifts since the series of snowstorms started (she works for the city of Cincinnati) she was able to catch up on my blog yesterday. She also said she was proud of me and that she loved me, which reminded me that God’s blessings come in so many forms.

I am blessed to have wonderful relationships now with people from my past that had every right to kick me to the curb. I don’t know if I mentioned this or not, but as a teenager, I don’t think anyone would have described me as a high-quality individual. I’m sure I managed to alienate more than a few people.

Several years ago, I made up my mind to try to find as many of the people as I could that I had in some way wronged and apologize. To my amazement, many of these folks didn’t seem to remember any bad actions on my part. Or maybe they just said they didn’t to spare my feelings. In any event, I felt better after the apologies, and was thrilled when the door was again opened on friendships that had faltered. There are still a few people out there that I haven’t found, but I will keep searching.

I realize now how wonderful it is to have so many good relationships in my life. How could I ever be lonely when there are so many friends to call on when I’m having a down day?

I’ll end today with a quote from C.S. Lewis, author not only of the Narnia books, but also a little ditty called Mere Christianity. That book is one of my all time favorites, as it really makes you think.

Lewis, for those who don’t know, was an atheist who tried his best to shoot holes in Christianity. The more he tried to disprove the Bible and all the concepts in it, the more he embraced the teachings of Christ. So for those of you out there reading this that are skeptical, or have poo-poo’d (sp?) the idea of a real, living God, I say DO YOUR HOMEWORK, and then make your best argument.

Here’s the quote:

Aim at heaven and you’ll get earth thrown in.
Aim at earth and you’ll get neither.
C.S. Lewis