Peter Schorsch
As my friend Chris Turner might remember, my New Year’s resolution from a few years ago was, simply, “More friends, less enemies.”
Unlike so many of the resolutions I’ve made to lose weight or stop eating so much salt (or both) this one sort of stuck. At least I think it did. I know I’ve worked at it. And that feels good. Very good.
In fact, it feels so good to be at the place I am at, I see a certain ridiculousness in my original resolution. In one way, I was lumping all of those not “friends” as “enemies.” One is not mutually exclusive of the other. Someone doesn’t need to be my friend to not be an enemy. Likewise, someone can be critical without being lumped into the “enemies” pile.
Which brings me to the note I received last week from one of my critics, albeit a private one or at least one who was never overtly critical of me to my face.
Maureen Ahern, the conservative activist and wife of state Rep. Larry Ahern, wrote this to me last week:
“Excellent Sunburn today. I’ve been ‘stuck’ at home for various reasons, and it’s nice to get quickly plugged in with your daily reports. I especially like that I can dig deeper if I choose, but, oftentimes, only need to read the blurb to learn the latest (especially on the Tallahassee news).
“As a journalist, I am quite impressed with what you have accomplished with your business. You turned a setback in your career into an opportunity and through hard work, a vision and faith, you showed all those naysayers.
“Not only did your professional life see success, but you have been so blessed with Michelle and Ella. (Showing the love of being a husband and a father is always a welcome addition to the ‘hard news’ of political reporting, especially in this crazy election year. )”
Mind you, the Aherns and I probably don’t share many similar political or philosophical beliefs, other than the belief in the primacy of family in society. They’re conservative, some would even say Tea Party people. Rep. Ahern is one of Donald Trump‘s few elected official endorsers in Florida. As for me, well, I am to the left of the Aherns on many issues (although probably not as many as you’d think.)
Mrs. Ahern probably doesn’t know this, but I was hurt several years ago when a mutual friend told me that the Aherns did not want to advertise on SaintPetersBlog because they didn’t want to be associated with what I was doing. I don’t know whether that was true, but I didn’t let it change how I covered their political work. It didn’t exactly endear them to me, but contrary to what some people might have expected from me, I just chalked it up as a case of not everyone always getting along.
It means a lot to me knowing I may have turned around one of my critics.
The Aherns have always been very kind to me when Michelle and I see them and it’s clear from reading their Facebook pages that they are as dedicated to their family as much as I am to mine.
So maybe they weren’t friends, but they certainly weren’t enemies, either.
Now, having received Maureen’s note, there’s hope for the former happening.
