I opened #Oprah's magazine and stared at this page. The joyous
girl with the pigeons totally entranced me. Then my eyes were riveted on the
scene behind--St Marc's Square, Piazza San Marco Rome.
There are two reasons why St. Marc's Square so attracted my attention. First, long ago from Italy by slow post came an extra-large post card. The picture on the card was of a soldier dressed in uniform standing alone in St. Marc's Square, surrounded by pigeons. He was just standing there, looking toward the photographer, one hand held out, probably with food.
The soldier was my father.
The soldier was my father.
He was one of the lucky ones--sent to
Italy during the Second World War, and not Germany. He arrived home whole and
healthy.
Second, I have stood in that square
surrounded by pigeons. While my two daughters browsed shops situated around the
square, my friend, Marilyn, and I sat at a small cafe overlooking the square.
As we were drinking alternatively iced tea and champagne --which in Italy is accompanied
by potato chips, a fellow sitting at the next table leaned over and asked,
"Do Americans always drink champagne and iced tea in the afternoon?"
We laughed, "When in Rome we
do."
After I had devoured the above picture,
scrounged around in my past, I considered the title, "Live Your Best
Life."
I am sure that's what we are doing
here--visiting this page, investigating the art of writing, while endeavoring
to master the elusive art of living—that is trying to Live our best life.
In trying to do our best writing, in
attempting to convey our ideas in the best manner we know, while attempting to
reach an audience we could take some advice from Broadway. I was struck by #Seth
Godin’s blog, “Learning from Broadway.”
The ad writers, for Broadway shows, according to Godin, tune their
posters for tourist’s eyes, and the producers hire big-name stars. There are
more tourists than locals they think. And so they hype how wonderful the show
is, how many awards it has won, and they miss the point. The point is: the
locals are the bread and butter of their business. Locals pay the bills. Locals
go to maybe 10 shows a year. They aren’t wowed by the bragging of the ad
writers. They want to know about the show, what it’s about, some background, they
don’t even care if it has a famous star—they like the discovery of new talent. And
their word of mouth brings in more customers than the ad writers do.
We reach for numbers when right in front of our eyes are the people
who make the most difference, the loyals who keep coming back.
Thank you for reading.
Live your Best life,
Joyce