A few weeks ago I was running an errand around town when I happened to spot graffiti on a telephone pole. As I’ve done perhaps a hundred times, I whipped out my phone and dialed Raleigh’s Graffiti Hotline. After giving my name and the graffiti location, we got into an impromptu conversation.
“Hi Mark, this is Elaine. It’s been a while since we’ve talked.” I’ve often said half-jokingly that I’m on a first-name basis with the Graffiti Hotline staff but it’s becoming less of a joke. “How are you doing?” she asked. “Everything all right? Your job going well?”
“Oh, sure,” I answered. “I work from home now and love my job.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Elaine said. “I remember you had lost your job and I wondered how you were doing.”
I laughed, thanked her for her concern, and said goodbye. Afterward, though, I marveled at how Elaine had remembered that I’d lost my job. It was over two years ago but I obviously had mentioned it to her and it obviously had made an impression. It blew me away that someone I’ve never even met would care about that – about me and my welfare.
I thought about this conversation after pondering my unexpected appearance in John Drescher’s column Saturday. I’ve done several interviews in my roles in the East CAC, the Parks board, and foe to graffiti and trash around Raleigh. Still, there was something decidedly different about this media appearance: the story was a complete surprise to me. You see, It’s one thing to take a reporter’s call and talk about some topic (hey, some of which I might even know something about), but it’s another thing entirely to have something written about me that I didn’t even know was coming. For the first time that I appeared in the media, I had no chance to actively participate in the story. That’s a bit of a milestone.
I’m surprised to discover how uncomfortable I am when the spotlight is on me, rather than the things I help out with as a member of the community. And this is when someone said something good about me!