People Matter

I was going to write a blog on procrastination before Stephen comes back from vacation because I have actually been, yes, procrastinating on posting here. After thinking about what I should write, and somehow linking it all together into a post on procrastination, I changed my mind. That doesn't change the fact that I have been, I admit it, a bit lazy in not being as prolific as someone like Stephen Colbert. On the other hand, it is summer and it is nice to just sit back and watch the flowers grow and the clouds move across the sky.

But, on with the show. First, Ann Curry. She is gone from the Today Show. You can read all about it all over the web so I won't go into detail. I will just say that I admire her quite a lot. A Lot. I remember some years back I noticed that her hair was sure getting long. Well, turns out she grew it long enough to have it cut and donated to Locks of Love. She is brave enough to bungee jump (Tom Hanks gave her a score of 9.8) and she has been around the world to most of the trouble spots so that we are informed of conflicts and wars, hurricanes and earthquakes. I don't know Ann Curry, but she does seem to me to be someone who is quite gracious, humble, intelligent, upbeat and professional. That sounds a lot like Stephen Colbert, doesn't it? So, Ann Curry, you matter.

Wait a minute. Not quite done yet on that subject. I went over to see what Ann Curry had to say at Twitter. I scrolled  down a few entries to 29 May where she wrote: "What love looks like."  Go look. Isaac and Amy, you matter. So do your friends and family.

Before he went on vacation, I assume to help this great country celebrate Independence Day, Stephen had Melinda Gates on as a guest. (You may know her as the wife of Bill Gates.) Melinda and Bill have lots of money and Stephen graciously offered to take $100 million from her for his Super PAC or Spooky PAC and no one would ever have to know. But, that's not what she had in mind. She prefers that her money and her work be quite a bit more transparent than a Super PAC. The type of thing that she likes to do is saving people's lives by providing great vaccinations, or bed nets so people in tropical areas don't get malaria. She also wants to provide family planning for people around the world. This is important -- Women die if they can't space their children further apart or if they have them when they are too young. Stephen gave her an opinion of contraception and she reported to him that 90% of Americans find contraception morally acceptable. So, go visit the website no-controversy.com and read the stories. If you don't like the format of horizontal scrolls, simply go to the bottom of the screen and click on "View All." Sometimes, it is really eye-opening to read the stories of people from other cultures and other countries to get a better perspective of why this is so important. Melinda Gates, you matter. Girls of the world, you matter.

Monday night Stephen will be back on The Colbert Report. It seems like it's been forever since he was on the air. Patience is a virtue I know. I'm just saying it will be nice to see him again so we can find out what is happening in our country and in the world. Stephen, you matter too. And to those people reading this, you also matter. A lot.