Alex Churchill

This morning, The Reformed Broker wrote a succinct, deeply personal “why I write” piece. Read it now, I’ll wait.

Now, if that doesn’t inspire you to get on your ass and put your ideas into words, nothing will. In fact, after I read that, I went over to my local coffee shop to do a few hours of work and was affected by it in a completely different way.

I went up to the counter to get my cup, and as I was in a holding pattern, staring at the big screen above the espresso machine, I happened to look over at the woman to my left. She was crying. Or rather, she was on the verge of absolutely breaking down in tears – big, welling water works filled red rimmed eyes.

Now, the big point of The Reformed Broker’s screed was how blogging like a madman has changed his professional life in ways that he could not possibly have anticipated when he started doing it. Primarily, it has expanded his knowledge set to the point that it has made him care more. From the sounds of it, possibly too much. But that point didn’t answer the question he posed at the start of the post – “how do you have so much time to blog?” And he answered that question with another one:

“The correct question is not how can I find the time to blog, rather, it’s how could I not?”

I’m not saying “how could I not?” popped into my head as I looked at this well dressed, middle aged woman on the edge of some kind of crisis, but I broke from what is expected in these situations. And while this is not something totally out of character for me, TRB’s post framed it for me almost instantly once the moment was gone.

So I asked her “You OK?” She looked over as squarely as she could and said “divorce”, grabbed her coffee and sprinted out of the place, weeping openly. As she spun and run, I managed to say “Oh, I’m so sorry…” I don’t really know if she heard.

Then, I called my wife. How could I not?

Admittedly, this wasn’t something I did for a client. Or a co-worker. Or even a family member. But I think the point is that caring isn’t something you can turn off – it’s how it manifests itself that counts. In broad strokes, care about almost anything – except yourself.

So thanks Reformed Broker, I sincerely hope she heard you.