KEEPING UP WITH LIFE I am reading over the touching and emotional recollections of former Tampa Times staffers who recall this day in 1982 when the newspaper was officially closed because of poor circulation and “changing lifestyles.” I had left that paper seven years prior so I couldn’t be blamed. For myself, I have to thank Tampa and hundreds of very wonderful, supportive people who helped me do anything I wanted during my climb to fame and fall back to complete obscurity. At age 14, I took pictures for both the morning paper, The Tampa Tribune, and the afternoon Tampa Times. At 17, I also joined as a stringer and later staffer at WFLA-TV. Ten years later, in 1974, I began working for Tampa radio legends Jack Harris, Russ Offenbach and Dean Drapin as the radio station’s first traffic reporter. The man who replaced me in 1977, Gary McHenry, is still there. I went on to then CBS affiliate WTVT as a news correspondent. Since, I’ve run an advertising agency with dozens of incredible clients including real estate firms, fast food restaurants and housing developments. I’ve been involved in real estate development myself…all because very special people were willing to give me a chance. I was a part of the team that got Pasco County’s Saddlebrook out of receivership and into profit back in the seventies. I’ve managed giant and small apartment complexes, owned pieces of them, and bought and sold dozens of multi-million dollar real estate parcels without taking a dime out of my pocket and using only my imagination….no “training” offered by TV product hucksters. Along the way I have met and befriended world leaders, presidents, movie stars, famous inventors and all kinds of wonderful people rich and poor. I’ve also pissed a lot of them off. My hearts been broken a dozen times...even pulverized. Theres always been wonderful and supportive people who followed who helped put it back together again. I am such a lucky guy. So if ever anything I did close down, had setbacks or just plain disappeared, I considered it part of the fauna and flora of life….not such a big deal. I learned early in my life with the death of close family members that nothing is forever. The biggest thing I’ve learned, and what I’d like to pass along to whoever will listen, is no matter what happens to us it’s not the end of the world. As long as you have hope and a spirit to move forward, life can be shaped into whatever we want. I’ve had this attitude all my life and I’ve always made things happen for me. That’s why I was so amused when I read the following, part of a speech that Apple founder Steve Jobs gave to some graduating college students before he died. Here it is: “When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world try not to bash into the walls too much, try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. “But life. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact. “That is everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. “And the minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually something will if you push in something will pop out the other side. You can change it, you can mold it. “That’s maybe the most important thing. “Is to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you are just going to live in it versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your market upon it. “I think that’s very important and however you learn that once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better cause it’s kind of messed up in a lot of ways. “Once you learn that you’ll never be the same again.” Opportunities never cease. We can never lose a job if we are thinking straight. Life only asks us to forget the last place we made it work best for us because the new address is better. Steve, I couldn’t have said it better…..
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 00:38:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015