Why you need to know a little about a lot

Charton Heston's passing reminded me of a story. Nearly 20 years ago I happened to be anchoring one Sunday nite. I arrived in the newsroom about two in the afternoon and asked the very young producer if anything interesting was going on.

"Nope," he said. "There was some actor in town that I never heard of, so I didn't send anyone to cover it."

Always being interested whenever Hollywood people dropped by, I asked, "Who was the actor?"

The producer picked up a piece of paper and read, "Some guy named Charl....ton Heston. You ever hear of him?"

Incredible. I rolled my eyes, amazed that anyone in the country, much less the news business, didn't know the guy who'd played Moses. I was ticked off that he wouldn't be in our newscast, and also upset that I didn't get to meet a true Hollywood icon. I played what would have been a great package in my mind, getting Heston to play along. "Get your stinking paws off me you damn dirty reporter!"

This story brought to mind another classic from a friend who worked at a California station. One day in the late eighties there was a newsroom discussion about how everyone remembers what they were doing during big events. People who were old enough to remember 1963 were discussing where they were when Kennedy was shot. A college intern chimed in, "Ted Kennedy got shot?"

Sadly, young people often think nothing is important except what is important to their own generation. Many times people who major in journalism don't bother learning anything about history and couldn't tell a State Senator from a US Senator.

If you're one of those people, time for a reality check.

I was waiting at the doctor's office today. I noticed the people my age and older were reading in the waiting room. The young people were sitting there, staring into space. What a sad waste of time.

When you have free time, read and learn something. Buy an old fashioned almanac and learn some interesting historical stuff. Watch shows like Jeopardy. Living alone? Read something while eating dinner. Listen to talk radio once in awhile instead of what passes for music these days.

When I was a kid and didn't know something, my dad would say, "Look it up." I'd go to our 1958 version of the World Book Encyclopedia ("Someday man will travel in space!") and while I was looking something up I'd read about some other interesting things.

While we cover he events of the day, history is always a factor. Read and learn.