Accentuate The Positive...

...eliminate the negative. That's the gist of what a wise and fun-loving friend of mine, George Crocker told me tonight. (In the picture to the left, George sits with WNCT UberProducer, Rachel Gallaher and incredibly efficient editor Alexandra Poindexter.)

I had been reflecting on my 15 years in this market and said that there had been many bad events, but there were also good ones. The bad ones were really bad, like a nasty divorce, and the good ones were really good, like all the friends and experiences I've had with them.

In 15 years I've worked with at least 30 reporters and producers, and 7 news directors. I have gained a great deal of knowledge, much of it I have passed along to the reporters as they came through market 105. Most of them were grateful for it as they had the maturity to know that the advice was coming from the heart, and was meant for their edification and professional growth. But their acceptance also stemmed from an inherent sense of respect for someone who had made many more trips around the sun than they. On the other hand, there were others, including one reporter still at my former station who were above any advice. They thought of themselves as an island. They thought my counsel was condescension, and that their success would come from the superficial and naive notion that how you look or sound will make you an idol. I feel sorry for people like that, and I feel bad for people who have to hire people like that, even though there are better candidates.

So as I begin a new chapter in my life, I am reminded to remember the good things. I may never forget some of the bad things that happened, but those are not worth dwelling on. Those should be used as a moral. You've heard the phrase: If we don't remember the past, we are doomed

to repeat it. It was meant to reinforce positive behavior, and repel bad. I think it

works another way: If we remember the past, we are likely to repeat it--like my reporter friends Andrew Doud and Philip Jones hamming it up at a recent dinner in my honor, while another reporter friend Parul Joshi approves in the background. That's something I'd like to accentuate. And I will.