As 2011 begins, I continue to be struck by the number of people I know who are undergoing financial crises, family crises and personal crises. Hopefully 2011 will prove a happier year for them than the end of 2010 or the first day of 2011. And it’s fitting to think about the lyrics of this song — a video from a TV show shot a long time ago, with Dean Martin singing a song to his adoring young daughter. The words of the song, Martin’s love and his daughter’s gaze are what our being here on earth should really be about:
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.