Sandy Springs: Good bet things in your life aren’t bad

In another time in my life, I was a substitute sports-talk radio host. It was something of a dream job — being paid to think and talk about sports all day.

The key word above was “substitute,” which meant the gig paid little money. The guy who owned the station could squeeze a penny until it was as big around as a manhole cover.

Believe it or not, there are rules when it comes to sports talk. Play the hits, I was told. That meant talk about what people cared about. In other words, we didn’t spend a lot of time on hockey, college baseball, any women’s sports, etc. But you couldn’t miss with recruiting, Georgia football and March Madness. The other big rule was to use the word “great” sparingly.

The feeling was we tend to hand out superlatives too easily, not to mention predictions of doom and gloom. Remember when Paris Hilton was the “story of the century”? Not the time she was dancing and forgot to wear her knickers. And not the time a video was released of her and a gentleman friend frolicking in the boudoir.

It was the time she went to jail, remember? You might not because it really didn’t truly affect our lives at this end of the country. Taxes didn’t go up or down, the stoplights didn’t magically synchronize and my property didn’t triple in value.

When we debate things on a local level, we lapse into absolutes. Allowing something to be rezoned will “destroy” the neighborhood close by. The temporary tax increase to fund a project will be a “tremendous victory” for the people living in our city.

Tossing language around like that it might lead one to think our lives are wonderful beyond measure or miserable beyond description. I think it’s safe to say most of us live in the middle. Finally being allowed to incorporate as a city has been a good thing for us but it is hardly the windfall supporters boasted about when it was on the ballot. Back then you’d think we were a few votes away from the Promised Land.

I’m a happy Sandy Springsteen, but this ain’t Valhalla. Perhaps we might find life a little easier if we weren’t running from disaster and chasing perfection on a daily basis.

If you’re reading this over a lazy Saturday morning breakfast after sleeping all night in a soft bed with a roof over your head, how bad can your life be? Are you living in challenging times? Difficult times? Or the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression?

If everyone in your immediate family is healthy and happy, your car runs well and there’s food in the larder, does it really matter who wore the best dress on the red carpet? Or which band defined a generation? Or how fast your cellphone can download music videos?

An advertising man, wanting to get the best possible work out of his creative department, told them good was the enemy of great. His point was not to settle for work that was good, but could be better.

Out here in the real world, however, good can be more than enough. Indeed, I’d say good is the new great.