Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | TuneIn | RSS
The on-again, off-again Elon Musk deal buying Twitter was on-again. It was the big news of the day and would have been the motivation for today’s broadcast until I discovered the updated story on journalist Jack Thomas. Jack’s story is a teaching moment for each of us and an opportunity to understand the importance of embracing life’s twists and turns.
The initial story ran in the Boston Globe on July 21, 2021 ⏤ right at the peak of COVID.
I just learned I only have months to live. This is what I want to say.
I’ve been a journalist for more than 60 years. So after doctors delivered the news, I sat down to do what came naturally, if painfully: Write this story.
And then the update on October 3, 2022, that Jack Thomas, a journalist who poignantly wrote of his terminal diagnosis, dies at 83.
“AS A TEENAGER, I often wondered how my life would change if I knew that I would die soon. Morbid, perhaps, but not obsessed. Just curious. How does a person live with the knowledge that the end is coming? How would I tell family and friends? Would I be depressed? Is there an afterlife? How do you get ready for death, anyhow?”
As the saying goes, fate has dealt me one from the bottom of the deck, and I am now condemned to confront the question that has plagued me for years: How does a person spend what he knows are his final months of life?
Atop the list of things I’ll miss are the smiles and hugs every morning from my beautiful wife, Geraldine, the greatest blessing of my life. I hate the notion of an eternity without hearing laughter from my three children. And what about my 40 rose bushes? Who will nurture them? I cannot imagine an afterlife without the red of my America roses or the aroma of my yellow Julia Childs.
Join me today to explore Jack’s story and how it relates to each of us. Are we living life to the fullest? Are we living in the micro details of life, or should we take a more macro level at the world around us? Do we have a career that fulfills us, or is it a job to buy a loaf of bread? Are we living in regrets or still visualizing the possibilities?
All good questions. Let’s find the answers.
The Voice of a Nation can be heard on weekdays at 6 pm ET, with an encore at 11 pm ET. Listen on iHeart Radio, our world-class media player, or our free apps on Apple, Android, or Alexa.
America Out Loud is the premier news network with a diverse array of talk shows that inform and inspire. A daily resource for smart people.
