Something new

I’m starting to see the rewarding side of journalism.

The other day I met a man who’d been walloped with the biggest bag of lemons life could find, and he was making lemonade by the bucketful.

Figuratively, of course. There was no lemonade in sight when I went to interview him for a story, but I wouldn’t have turned any down. It was a hot day.

Anyway, if I’ve interpreted the saying correctly, what I mean is that this man had some pretty bad luck, but he was doing the best he can with what he had to turn it around. This guy was diagnosed with cancer in February, and multiple sclerosis in May. His wife had brain cancer. They had two sons, three and five years old. It’s a tragic story, but I was blown away by the man’s positive attitude and determination to do everything he could to fight his disease.

After I wrote an article about an event he was organising to fundraise for MS research, he emailed me several times saying how grateful he was that I’d interviewed him. I could tell I’d really made his day. It was an absolutely fantastic feeling to see that kind of response. You almost forget that not everybody hates journalists, so it’s a little startling to have somebody be so happy to talk to you.

Today, as well, was a learning experience. I went to interview a couple of people, and had to have one of them translate for the interview, as they were Korean. I sat there thinking about how interesting it was for me, never having had to get anything translated for a story before. It’s probably not a big deal to anybody, but I checked it off my list of random, interesting things that happened to me that day.

I’m enjoying all these new experiences.