Even ‘goobers’ should agree on these two things
I am not in the agreement business. I wouldn’t be doing my job competently (or at least convincingly) if roughly half of you didn’t think I was incapable of writing a coherent grocery list, let alone a news column. (The number rises to 75 percent among friends, co-workers and immediate family.)
And that’s fine. I’m not sure we Americans actually enjoy agreeing with one another.
We want to be part of a like-minded tribe, of course, but we don’t want everyone to be in it.
The only way we can prove to ourselves that we’re smarter than the other guy, more intuitive, more patriotic, better-read and further along culturally, intellectually, emotionally and socially is for there to be another tribe. An opposition. A wrongheaded group of antagonists. Rivals. Foes.
Them.
As opposed to us.
It’s a situation that would appear to have no positive benefits, except for news column writers and the owners of social media companies, but it works out for the entire community — some of the time —because there are occasions when one of us stumbles into something upon which we can all agree.
This timem that unlucky stumblebum was me.
Any kind of “Let’s join hands and sing ‘Kumbaya’ ” thing is awful for hacks like me, career-wise, and this time was made worse by knowing that I’d have to report on two universally agreed-upon subjects:
Charity. And Clay Thompson.
You remember Clay. Particularly if you’re reading this in the paper. He was your guy, the columnist of you people. It
didn’t matter which cultural, socioeconomic, philosophical or political “team” you were on. You sent him questions, and he answered them. That was the conceit, anyway. Whether the subject was dogs or meteors or desert foliage or tipping waiters or baseball or whether fish pee (they do, apparently), the actual, factual answer was less important than the way Clay responded.
Asked by a reader why he never did columns about politics, he wrote, “I often hear from some of you people who say one of the reasons they read this column is because it isn’t about politics or government stuff, although I suspect it’s really because they don’t have anything better to do.”
He died last year. A lot of us are still processing that.
Each holiday season, Clay would appeal to his readers — cajole them, urge them not to be “goobers” — to support The Arizona Republic’s Season for Sharing campaign. Over the years, Clay was responsible for bringing in millions in contributions, all of which go to local organizations and people in need. Imagine that. All that good done by not writing about “news.”
Not a bad legacy.
The fundraising for Season for Sharing continues through Jan. 31.
If you agree that charity is good and that Clay was good – and you do – there is a way to celebrate both. The last collection of Clay’s columns, “Try Not to Worry About It,” was published recently. The book is available at claythompsonbooks.com or by calling 602-2341574. If you purchase a copy, proceeds go to Season for Sharing.
Clay would like that. He’d also like the idea of me doing the cajoling and haranguing this year. Although, unlike him, I’m just asking.
Clay used to enjoy it when I’d go over to his place for lunch and, in addition to burgers and fries, I’d bring along a few of the more colorful letters or emails I’d received. Even better, a recording of a salty voicemail. He told me once, “As a person who’s been unfairly referred to as ‘disagreeable’ once or twice, I find it delightful that a lot more people disagree with you.”
Not this time, pal. Not this time.
ed.montini@