Say what you want about NPR. You can say it’s a bunch of liberal yuppies or people who just liked their English teachers too much, but the quality of their news and editorial choice is just beyond anything else out there.
Take this story for example. It’s not news, per se. It doesn’t chronical an event or inform the audience what’s going on, but it’s important information which adds depth and color to the stories coming out of Afghanistan. It reminds us that we are not just lackadaisical observers of the world, we are participants in it, and it affects us and our human relationships. It makes the war a little less foreign and sterile.
Kudos to you, NPR, for having the bravery to not pander to the nauseatingly regurgitated copy of the cable news and bringing us fresh, human insights into the human side of the news.
This story is of a man who pays the price of his addiction over and over again.
Listen to Richard Farrell read his essay below. It’s three minutes of your life you won’t regret.
[audio:http://www.whiteeyebrows.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/20090903_me_07.mp3]
