My candidate for hero of the week is an Endeavor man named Bob Johnson.
Johnson, a ham radio operator, was interviewed because he once spent five minutes -- by radio -- chatting with King Hussein of Jordan, who died this week.
We in the press like interviews like Johnson's because they give us a ``local angle'' on a story that otherwise might be considered foreign.
Johnson, it seems, is a King Hussein fan.
"I think we've lost a good friend of amateur radio, as well as one of the greatest leaders of our time,'' Johnson was quoted as saying.
What makes Johnson my hero of the week is the order in which he listed Hussein's attributes: ham radio operator first, one of the greatest leaders of our time second.
Johnson, in other words, has a life. He sits up late at night and fiddles with dials and does something that, obviously, brings him great pleasure.
That's probably the main difference between people like Johnson, who actually do things, and those of us who like to consider ourselves ``opinion leaders.''
We opinion leaders love to hear ourselves talk. Ask us our opinion of President Clinton, or of the world economic scene or of the coming Y2K crisis and we will respond with lengthy, pompous explanations.
Our ranks are increasing almost daily. The advent of talk radio and of the Internet allow almost anyone to be an opinion-leader. Those of us who are lucky enough to have newspaper columns have to share, and we don't particularly like that.
But, then, we run into Bob Johnson.
Here's a guy who works in a Motorola service shop in Portage and who lives in a little town -- Endeavor's population at the last census was 319 -- who has found a way to chat with a king.
Not only did he chat with King Hussein, he did so in Arabic. That's got to be a little classier than calling Rush Limbaugh and saying ``ditto.''
He's managed to do something that I will never do.
There's got to be a moral here somewhere. What can we learn from the example of Bob Johnson of Endeavor?
Well, for one thing, we ``opinion leaders'' ought to be somewhat humble when encountering the ``little people.''
I expect that if I were to encounter Bob Johnson in Endeavor, or in Portage, I wouldn't pay much attention. If I did pay attention, it would be only because I had a piece of electronic equipment that I needed repaired.
I would not assume, or even conceive, that the person to whom I was talking spoke Arabic or had once had a friendly conversation with a king.
We in Madison have our own ``beltway mentality'' that assumes we are at the center of the universe and other people aren't. We shouldn't be so arrogant.
The second lesson may illustrate why there seems to be a widening breach between the elite in this country and the people they supposedly are leading.
Most people actually do have lives. They operate ham radios, bowl, raise horses and worry about children. They work at jobs that involve physical labor and live with the uncertainties of job security, health problems (and health insurance) and the fate of the Green Bay Packers.
It's not that they don't understand or care about the weighty issues we "opinion leaders'' keep opining about; it's that they put these issues into perspective.
Ham radio first; one of the greatest leaders of our time second, that's the perspective.
Until and unless we can show respect for
the lives of the ham radio
operators, we "opinion leaders'' are going to have a hard time
persuading them
to pay attention to our own gas bag theories.
View Original Article,
Published February 8, 1999