So You Want to Kill the President...

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I was watching the Today Show, as I do every morning. Today was a relatively slow news day because the story that received the most coverage during the 7:00-7:22 segment involved the false report filed by a woman who really took her daughter to Disney World. Every element of the story was repeated twice, both in the setup piece and then again when Natalie Morales was interviewing a police officer involved with the case. There were many elements in that reporting piece that were annoying to have to listen to (mainly Natalie Morales' misunderstanding of what racial profiling is), but I digress.

The far more shocking story to me was the one involving Sara Jane Moore who tried to kill President Gerald Ford in 1975 but failed because an onlooker twisted her arm causing the bullet to miss. The entire story was presented as a big reveal with it being teased throughout the morning with an old woman whose identity was shielded because they didn't have lights on her. When it came time for her interview, they undimmed the light in the studio so we could see her face.

Matt Lauer's biggest shock was that she looked like somebody who could be our aunt or (dare he say) grandmother. Sara Jane felt that she needed to do the interview so that people didn't think she was a monster, but just a human being.

It was all rather odd to me. Matt Lauer was honored to meet her. She had been in jail since her attempt and was on parole. I simply cannot understand how somebody who tried to kill a president is sought to be understood under the lights of a morning news show studio. If somebody tried to kill President Obama, would we eagerly look forward to an interview many years in the future so that they can present themselves not as a monster, but as a human? So we can seek to understand them? Please.

The Goatee Saver

I stumbled upon this post on Ragamuffin Soul. For twenty bucks, if you sport a goatee (as all youth pastors do apparently... except for those who have a soul patch), this handy gadget might the be the answer to your prayers. Check it out.

Getting Married

Back in 2007, I created a list of things to do on the site 43things.com Today, as I was working to streamline my personal online presence, I remembered the site and logged in and saw the list of life goals I had made then. Most of them are things that really seem once in a lifetime, if they were to ever happen at all (i.e. Watch Maryland win a national championship in person).

I also saw that I had posted on my list, "Marry a woman with character, intelligence, personality, and beauty." Those were the things Martin Luther King had sought in a wife, and when I heard about his list, I remember thinking to myself that those characteristics would also be the verbiage of what I, too, would seek.

Finding people with a combination of some of those traits was quite easy. But all four? Never. Until, later, in that very same year I got to get to know Ruth, the person who I will be marrying in 25 days, 1 hour, 45 minutes, 52 seconds.

To all the guys out there: Such women actually do exist in the world, despite my belief that they didn't. I don't know where you might find yours, but I am so glad that I found mine.