What TV personality do you think of when I mention the following features:
Stupid pet tricks, the Top Ten list, dropping objects like large pumpkins from a building, or posing as an employee in a local shop in downtown New York?
The first clue would鈥檝e been enough for many people, but here鈥檚 another one: he had a piano player from Thunder Bay, Ont., named Paul, as his musical director.
I refer to none other than David Letterman, former late night talk show host and successor of Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show.
Some people would say it dates me to remember Letterman鈥檚 early days, and it dates me to remember when Johnny Carson was still on the air 鈥� but there it is.
A ceremony was broadcast recently on PBS for the presentation of the Mark Twain Award for Humour, presented by the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C. There were some memorable clips shown, such as when Letterman put on a suit covered with Alka-Seltzer, and was lowered into a water tank, with hilarious results.
He received a standing ovation, and Letterman鈥檚 joke was, 鈥淚 get a standing ovation 鈥� and it鈥檚 on PBS 鈥︹��
What impressed me was, in his acceptance speech for this prestigious prize, he first of all acknowledged that quite a number of those who paid tribute to him were far funnier and more talented than he was 鈥� and this was a normal comment, as he鈥檚 often self-deprecating.
But what he said about many of those people, plus many many more who weren鈥檛 there, is that they all helped him, and he didn鈥檛 get to where he is now on his own.
And, in fact, he said this is something we all need to acknowledge and practice in our lives, namely that we should all be helping each other.
He鈥檚 not wrong, as residents of this province know quite well. (Just an ironic aside about Saskatchewan, as Regina is the home of a Letterman connection, namely gas station owner Dick Assman, who was a really good sport and went along with Letterman鈥檚 jibes and had some moments of fame as a result, even getting a trip to New York to appear on his show.)
My point is, volunteerism is at the heart of what Letterman is talking about, although he鈥檚 also talking about the help and support that friends give to one another.
Being a volunteer is a public form of that, as when we volunteer, we are being a friend to people we don鈥檛 even know, and giving them a helping hand in whatever way we can.
When we volunteer and help out, whether with a service organization, a church, a school or even just on our own, we might be helping out someone who will someday be a famous or influential person 鈥� or, you might just make that person鈥檚 day and lift their spirits.
