I Was Thinking ... Just Suppose

I don’t know what brings it up; maybe seeing something, or hearing a piece of music, maybe reading an article.

Anyway, suppose I hadn’t tried out for that job at WICC when I was in high school, working in the station’s news department. Would I have become as interested in international news and affairs as I have been? I began reading the NY Times to learn more about the nation and the world, then stopped getting the Reader’s Digest when I realized their writing was as imaginative and fulfilling as a slice of Wonder Bread.

I graduated at the bottom of my class in high school, and in the top 5% of my class in college. Suppose I had been in the middle or higher in h.s.; would I have done the same in college? Or was being a complete failure the first time around make me “dig in” many years later when college finally became an option and decide a B would do only if an A were impossible?

Suppose my parents were not musically inclined? We had those big 12” albums of 78-rpm records, mostly the best violinists, along with other classical music; we also had Spike Jones and the popular music of the day. Did that feed my desire to share it with others by being a disc jockey? Or did being a dj bring me to appreciate music even more than I had? You just don’t go in and play records; your show has to be balanced and you need to speak intelligently about the music.

Suppose any of these things had not happened.