Straight Talk from Jerry

Jerry gnawed on his unlit cigarette. “Life can be hard, don’t make it harder than it needs to be.”

“Papa, why you say hard?” Stella twisted her finger in her hair.

“It’s how we look at things. It’s not easy to learn new things. It’s hard, but that’s okay. Everything shouldn’t be easy.” 

Stella smiles. "I like easy."

"Everybody likes things easy, but we need challenges. It helps make us better at dealing with problems. We get soft, when everything is too easy."

"Soft like this?" Stella holds up her pillow.

"No, a different kind of soft. When you we're learning to walk, you fell down a lot. Sometimes it hurt, but you got up and did it again, because learning to walk was important to you. It was a challenge and it was hard, but now you know how to walk. If someone would have caught every time you fell, learning would have taken longer. Learning to get up after you fall is part of walking.

"Papa, you talk a lot."

“Yes, sorry sometimes I forget you’re only three. There’s just a bunch of things I want you to know.”

Stella scrunched her face. “It’s okay to fall?”

Jerry laughs. “Yes, that sums it up.”

Marketing Genius

It’s important to recognize those people who have a genius quality, even though up to now, it may have gone unnoticed. They have lived throughout history and achieved financial success without the fanfare they deserve. To this day, I don’t know their names because they live in anonymity. Sure, they are wealthy and live a lifestyle far above our understanding, but I believe their achievements are historic and financial recognition is not enough.

The people I honor by this message may be more than one individual because it’s

hard to fathom that one person alone could develop and promote these ideas. It’s likely a consortium of people made contributions to these revolutionary products. 

The first award goes to the individual or group who first marketed bottled

water. Throughout my life, water has been available and always free, but only in more recent times has it been bottled, distributed, and sold worldwide. This marketer has convinced the world that water in a plastic bottle is better, healthier, and worth spending hard-earned dollars on. Honestly, I admit I was a doubter like so many, but then these wise men or women started selling smart water. That’s right, water that would make you smarter. Genius, I say. Who would refuse to spend money on a product to make you smart? No one, I insist.

We learn many things from history. Some shame us, but others inspire us. Genius 

begets genius, I say. It’s possible the second award winner learned a thing or two from the first winner. The second award goes to the promoter of ripped jeans. It’s a fashion thing, but I believe it was a desperate move caused by damaged merchandise. Many of us would have collapsed in a puddle of despair. But, this genius turned a failure into a financial boom, not only recovering their losses but creating a niche market for barely wearable clothing. Due to the demand for ripped jeans, they could now be sold at a premium, and returns for damaged products would be eliminated because any damage to the merchandise made them more valuable. A stroke of genius for sure.

Historians might give inventors like Johannes Gutenberg, Issac Newton and Louis

Pasteur more credit than the individual or groups I’m promoting, and I agree their contributions to society were worthy, but without marketing, would anyone have noticed?

The corset inventor deserves mention because it was marketed under the guise of

beauty while inflicting pain and discomfort for a smaller waist.

I’m a writer of short stories, but I believe I could sell a novel if I had a genius

marketer. The book title could be, Subliminal Messages From The Future, packed with 

500 pages of nothing. Maybe I could rip a few pages and provide a bottle of smart water 

with each purchase. “Just Saying . . . “