Randy Cassingham's Blog

I spent an hour on the phone Friday with a True reader who hired me to do some consulting for a site he's developing. During our conversation he commented that he noticed I haven't run many letters lately from readers ranting at me (say, telling me I'm going to hell?) True, I haven't. I asked him if he thought that meant that readers have finally figured out that I'm an equal opportunity offender -- that I don't discriminate against people for their religion, profession, political party, whatever, but rather am simply commenting on their often incredibly stupid in-public actions?

He pondered that for a moment. No, he said. Oh well!

We talked for a bit about how you can't run all the positive letters, either. Yeah, most of my mail tells me that True is wonderful, but it'd be boring to run much of it. The negative stuff, though, is usually so wonderfully entertaining that I often can't resist running it. And many readers say that the letters are often as funny as the stories. But indeed I do get "good" letters, so let me run just a few:

• Annie in California: "Just want to thank you for the Honorary Unsubscribe for Gertie Marx. I'd never heard of her, but if I'd ever met her I'd have knelt down and kissed her feet! I've given birth twice and now know who to pay tribute to for my lack of misery." (Dr. Marx was the anesthesiologist who introduced the epidural to the labor and delivery room.)

• Karisue in Virginia: "Four years of getting the freebie version and I'm finally committing to True's Premium version. I do a lot of networking stuff for free (sending out job lists and such) and on occasion, I've asked folks for help in finding a friend a job. It's amazing how many people will take stuff for free, but never pony up when they're asked to give something. I don't want to be one of those people. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize your hard work is more than worth compensation. Thank you." Thanks for supporting my work with your upgrade, Karisue.
• Sharon in South Africa: "Whilst I appreciate your requests for subscribers to upgrade to the Premium edition, it's not that easy for a South African subscriber to justify the cost when our currency is practically worthless. By way of payback for the freebie, I have given your site a mention quite in my weekly newspaper column. Hopefully you'll pick up a few new subscribers from this part of the world."

That is also great support for my work, Sharon! Thanks much. And indeed, at last count, I show 515 subscribers with .za domain addresses, plus five who are Premium subscribers. You don't have to have a newspaper column to tell a friend about True -- just send them a copy with your recommendation that they subscribe too. But first please read the copyright notice included toward the bottom of every issue. Thanks.

• Mary in Oregon: "I'm one of the free This is True members, and I just want to say that I'm very grateful to the paid members who support the free version. I am an unpaid round-the-clock caregiver for my 88-year-old grandmother. (I used to work, but as she got sicker I cut my work hours back several times until I had to quit my job entirely to be able to meet Grandma's needs.) The stresses involved in caring for a person with multiple medical problems and dementia are substantial, and anything that gives me something to smile about (like This is True, for instance!) is a real plus. Thanks This is True and the paid members who make it possible! Hugs!"
• And Ken in New York: "I would like to thank you for bring a smile to my face over this past year. I drive an ambulance for my local volunteer ambulance company. I have a major problem here on Long Island when drivers fail to yield the right of way to an ambulance driving with lights and siren. As an example, yesterday as I drove to a cardiac call, on an overpass I had one car pull in front of the ambulance and STOP while another passed me on the right, pull up to the other car and STOPPED. It took almost a full minute with me hitting the air horn to get car in front of me to move. This is very frustrating especially when the family of the patient asks what took so long. (Every minute they have to wait seems like five minutes.) Then on the way to the hospital, again lights and siren I turned onto a one way street only to find a car going the wrong way. Again I was forced to stop until the car backed up and pulled out of the way. After 23 years of this I know things won't change, This past year I was on 353 ambulance calls and I can only think of a few drivers who pulled to the right and stopped. I just wish people would realize that we might be going to their house or to a motor vehicle collision where a friend or family member was involved and that they should give the ambulance the right of way by pulling to the right and stopping. Here in New York State a flashing Green light in a vehicle is volunteer ambulance personal responding to the ambulance or to a scene, while flashing Blue is a fire department member responding for an ambulance or a fire truck and it is a request for right of way. Please pull to the right and stop."

Ken may recall I used to drive an ambulance in California, and he's right. People just don't think and realize that the lights and sirens really mean something: someone really needs help. So get the hell out of the way! And don't whine that you "didn't hear them" -- you should be paying better attention to what's going on around you. Now that I do volunteer emergency response work in my small community, I indeed have one of those little "Kojak lights" for my dashboard. I'm very happy to say I don't need it much, but people here do realize that the house or family member they help save by getting out of the way could very well be theirs. We indeed had another house fire near me this month; a crew consisting entirely of volunteers was able to save it because they got there in time. And I'm proud to say my wife was the first one there. Good job, Kit.