Voices that Inspire

What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. I'm Gary Jordan and I am on a journey that has more paths than I can count. The idea is for how I develop a column is really kind of an interesting process for me. And I almost have to go back to Marianne Lindley, a dear friend who when I first started writing kind of grabbed me by the pebbles and slapped me around a little bit and told me to stop trying to be Shakespeare and just be Gary right like I talked. But the most valuable thing she told me was be a shark taking a bite out of everything you pass in life. I think I probably got my sense of humor from my mom. My dad was a very compassionate man, but my mom was kind of a knucklehead. But I think it's how you look at life. Life is funny. We do funny things. Even if we didn't design them to be funny. And if you can get out of your own way emotionally and visually and in every other way, there's a lot of funny things that are happening around us. If someone were to sit down with me and say, how can I be more fulfilled about what I do? How can I make the most out of whatever time I have here on this planet? I would say be remarkable. As I'm sitting here thinking about this, how many of my thoughts are going directly to being a parent. And so maybe that's how I form my definition of the places to be remarkable. Be a great parent, be a great friend, care about who you're with and why. Only recently, if I learned to listen, I think people can be inspired in a hundred different ways. But I think it starts with the simplest things. I'm Gary Jordan and I thank you for letting me spend a few minutes in the confessional. You're listening to voices that inspire.