Letterman Lesson
Driving in to work, I was listening to the news on radio and heard David Letterman form his previous night’s show. Letterman was doing the obligatory mea culpa trying to do damage control from his confession of his personal affairs. And something he said really struck me.
“If you hurt a person and it’s your responsibility, you try to fix it. At that point, there’s only two things that can happen: either you make some progress and get it fixed, or you’re going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed. Let me tell you folks, I’ve got my work cut out for me.”
- David Letterman
It was that final part that got me. Cynically, I saw Dave as a very polished celebrity who is not only seeking forgiveness from his wife, but also trying to retain his viewing audience, and salvage his reputation. But because of his words, I was left with a completely different emotional view of him.
It’s amazing how in just a few sentences, specifically those last few words, that actually made me feel empathy and pity for him. I don’t excuse his behavior, but I saw him as a frail man who made some SERIOUSLY egregious decisions, but, I also saw him as a man who is pulling himself up by the boot straps.
How often do we compose emails, tweets, or blog posts and just throw words together. Do we really craft our words? Letterman’s quote is an amazing example of skillful, emotional writing. Over the next few days, we will learn more lurid details about Letterman’s peccadilloes and will be disappointed in him. But we will also remember his words…“I’ve got my work cut out for me…” and will probably be rooting him on to success. All because of a few, well crafted sentences.
How many words do you write? How well thought out are they?
