The flip side of “Jay Walking”

I don't know how many of you are Jay Leno fans but he is my preference in late night comedy if I happen to be up until that hour with the television on. David Letterman is alright but he doesn't seem to develop the connection with his guests that Leno does. Of course neither of them could hold a candle to Johny Carson in that arena but then no one else could either. He will be truly missed by those who are still glued to the tube after the eleven o'clock news.

One of the things that continues to amaze me is a segment or I guess you could call it a “skit” that Leno does called “Jay Walking”. He will go out on the street and pick individuals at random and ask them questions on a given topic. Sometimes it is something that is in the news such as the Supreme Court other times it will be a question about history or some aspect of science.

Depending on your point of view the results are truly funny or sad. I fall into the latter category. The first time I saw this done I was sure that it was all staged for the laughs. I just knew that people couldn't be that dumb. Not and want to admit it in public anyway. It wasn't until I had seen it a few times that I realized that “Yes Virginia, these people are that stupid.”

Don't get me wrong. I am not being condescending nor am I claiming any superior intelligence. Far from it. I am one of those people that wasted his youth and missed the chance for an excellent education that is offered to every individual born in this country. I am now playing catch up late in life trying in earnest to learn what I should have been soaking up in junior high and high school. It is one of the few things that in life that I wish I had the chance to go back and do over again. Some time I will opine on why I think I got the education that I did but that is a topic for another day.

Watching Leno's “Jay Walkers” really scares me at times. A lot of them are young people and will be part of the pool that we draw on for our future leaders. Let me tell you that the “pool” is badly in need of a good shot of chlorine! The really disappointing ones are the collage students. Here is a group that completed, supposedly, a high school level course of education complete with diploma and now has moved on to what I assume will be at least a bachelors degree in liberal arts. This from people who can't name the seven major continents on the globe or think that the people directly elect the judges of the Supreme Court the same way they do their legislators. I repeat, I am not laughing, this scares me!

This brings me to the real reason for writing this blog entry. Every so often I meet or hear about a young person or group of young people that brightens my spirit about the future of the nation. I think we have a long way to go in order to remain competitive in todays world market place especially when you hear about facts like we graduate far more lawyers than we do engineers from our collages. By the way, when you see those figures the numbers are astounding. Being a “glass half full” person most of the time though, I take great solace when I find these young people where ever they might be. I got to see one such young person this past weekend on television of all places.


Intelligent television watching. Now I realize that this statement could be considered an oxymoron. There are however some things out there on “the tube” that make it worth owning one even in this day and age. I have been a huge fan of C-SPAN since its inception almost twenty five years ago. I did not become a real “C-SPAN junkie” until after they had been on the air for several years and I started watching Washing Journal to start my mornings each day. Brian Lamb has provided the country with a great service though his ideas and efforts that he puts into building the C-SPAN network.

I particularly enjoyed this past weekend when they had a twenty five hour call in marathon of live television. I did not watch nearly all of the entire twenty five hours but the parts that I did get to watch were very enjoyable. This was done to celebrate twenty five years of being on the air and as part of this event C-SPAN sponsored a contest inviting viewers to write a two hundred and fifty word essay about why they watch C-SPAN. From hundreds of entries they chose twenty five for special recognition having the author read their entry on the air live during one of the call in hours. I wish I had paid closer attention and had more time I think I would have entered.

The “grand prize” winner got to appear on the show live with Brian Lamb for one of the hour long call in segments. The winner turned out to be a high school senior from Florida named Erica Barger.

Here is a young lady that you should keep an eye on. Erica is one of those young people that renew my faith in the future of our country. I have encountered others like her but not nearly often enough. She is bright, hard working and seems well grounded in her ideals. She also seemed very comfortable on camera talking to thousands of people though only a senior in high school. Mark my words if this young lady continues on her current path she will mark a mark on our society. She is the antithesis of the “Jay Walkers” that I see on late night television. Lets hope for all of our sakes that there are a lot more like her out there.