Encouragement is Free

 

Good morning.

 Once in a while I like to email television personalities and encourage them in some way.  Most of those who work for the local stations are younger and newer in the business.  Additionally, most of them will be here a few years to get some experience and decide if they want to make on-air work a career, then move on to a larger market or, if they find the unusual hours and work days too burdensome, move on to another line of work.

 I like to watch the local news, and don’t have a favorite of the local outlets, so who I watch can easily vary among all three of the Wichita stations.  And, it seems that every few weeks, a new face pops up during the half-hour.

 I recently emailed a younger woman who does the weather sometimes for one of the local stations.  She came to Wichita less than a year ago.  Her presentation is nothing to write home about, but she has a pleasing personality when on-air and does a decent job of presenting the weather.

 This is what I said to her in the email:  I've been meaning to email for some time, but you know how that goes sometimes.  I was reminded just this evening that I need to do that.  I enjoy your on-air broadcasts.  You show personality, and it's as if you're just visiting with us about the weather.  As a former on-air radio/TV personality (1970's) myself, it is important to me now to encourage young talent.  Well done.  I understand you're young in your career.  Keep on learning and growing in it.  You'll do well.

 This was her response an hour or so later.  Thank you so much for the kind words!  I was having a rough day at work but you completely turned it around.  It's always nice to get a kind email every now and then rather than rude viewer ones, which I'm sure you also received during your career.  Kind regards,

 I will say at the outset that since we didn’t have email in the 1970’s, I never received any emails from viewers, as she alluded to in her response.  I extend grace on this point, however, and bear in mind that this woman has never seen a day without email or the Internet.  But I do know what rude comments are, and know also how debilitating they can be, however they may be transmitted.

 I tell you this to say that one never knows how much effect one might have just by doing some kind deed or saying some kind words.  I don’t know this young woman.  She may well be far from her family in a part of the country that seems rather foreign to her.  She probably had no one in this area that she knew when she moved here.  She is working on her career in a business that can be very rewarding, and can also be very cruel.  She is always on public display, is open to constant criticism from the public, and her employer watches her work very carefully.  Her pay grade isn’t the best as a newbie in a sometimes cutthroat business.  In short, what you see on your screen when you watch the weather or news is usually a façade hiding the normal pains of work, career, health, relationships, and self-esteem.

 It doesn’t cost anything to say an encouraging word.  It usually takes very little time to do a kindness for someone.  I’m reminded of the verse in the Bible that Paul wrote long years ago.  The old King James translation goes like this:  “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.”

 Try it.  Maybe offer an encouraging word to someone.  As you’ve seen in this post, it doesn’t even have to be someone you know.  Or maybe pay it forward in the pickup line at the Wendys or Starbucks.  Perhaps all you need to do is smile and say “Hello,” to someone who crosses your path, or compliment a co-worker in some way.  There are hundreds of ways to make a difference in someone’s life and their outlook on life.

 Kindness, encouragement, compassion, tenderheartedness, and perhaps most of all forgiveness are the attributes of someone who knows life and knows what is truly important in the everyday.