thank you conan o’brien
In case you weren’t aware, The Tonight Show ended a few days ago. I never religiously watched The Tonight Show (or any late show for that matter), but I’ve been following the circumstances surrounding his departure, and Conan just seemed so authentic in a business where most people aren’t. He paid his staff out of his own pocket during the writer’s strike and is doing the same now. You can just get that sense of how much he valued his staff, his work, and his viewers. You know a person is pure class when they don’t feel a sense of entitlement after years and years of putting in hard work only to get their dream destroyed and then end with these words:
“To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask is one thing, and I’m asking this particularly of young people: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism, for the record, it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen”
That part about not being cynical, I love that. That other part about being kind, I love that too. I hate when people say that you have to push and shove and step over people to get far. What an unnecessary way to live life. In spite of the fact that he could have been bitter and selfish and hold grudges about the way things panned out, he didn’t. And if Conan can come out as the good man in all of this, I think I can be a little more grateful and humble about my life too.
I guess I wanted to share this because the story of my life is like this: I won’t get something that I want, and I’ll complain. I’ll get what I want, and I’ll still complain. Conan reminded me I need to look at the grand scheme of things and realize that there are A LOT of important things in life that don’t consist of my problems. I am lucky beyond reason just to be where I am right now in this moment of my life.
I don’t express it enough, but I am appreciative of all the people around me and all the blessings of living and even all of the struggles I battle on a daily basis. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
