Perspectives: Sam’s Perspective – Fake Awards

I come to you today with a heavy heart. After all these years in front of a camera or behind a microphone, I have failed to bring honor to my profession and to the great state of Oklahoma. How did it happen? Last week, President Trump released his list of fake news award winners. I didn’t make the list and I really don’t understand why. I tried so hard to earn that honor, thinking it was what you wanted of me. Looking back I distinctly remember bringing you the election of a President who won all the marbles except for the popular vote, news of the various lawmakers here at home who shouldn’t have won but did, the damage they’ve caused Oklahoma, how our tax dollars are filling the pockets of out of state interests, how we lead the nation in cuts to education and how the governor got all the tax breaks she wanted and now she’s calling the legislature back to help cover up the problem. I did my best but it just wasn’t enough to even be nominated to the President’s list of Fake News Awards.
I’ve always believed that there is a silver lining to every cloud, that there is a reason for everything, when someone hands you lemons you should make lemonade, that life isn’t always fair, you’ll never sell a mobile home to a man who smokes a pipe, you have to crawl before you walk and never let your cattle eat the second growth of Johnson grass. Important life lessons all. I’m just a little guy in a red state that many outsiders consider a fly over state, till they want my vote. I’ve learned there is a lesson to be learned from everything that happens. So, what have I learned from not being named to the list of Fake News Winners? Well, I learned not one other little guy in any other state was nominated, only the big guys from the television networks to the national newspapers and various other publications were cited. Also, looking back there hasn’t been one single instance in which I’ve brought you anything but the truth.
Ah,… there’s the rub. Any attorney will tell you, there is no defense for the truth. Ben Franklin said something along the lines of “A lie will be halfway around the world before the truth makes it across the street.” So maybe I didn’t miss the boat after all.
Maybe I should continue to “Give the people light and they will find their own way.” Now that I think about it, maybe I shouldn’t be disappointed in not being named to the list of Fake News Winners. I mean if you tell the truth, shouldn’t that be its own reward?
And that’s my perspective.