Just one of the many weird things I do. Sometimes I’ll take a person who was recently in the news and draft what I consider the ideal press statement for them. I like it because it’s a fun character development exercise. A lot of times what I draft is far more cliche than what the person actually says. In that regard, it reminds me to not be so dramatic with my character writing. To try to keep things believable and real.
The latest one was for this tear-jerking viral story about a skatboarder who helped teach a little girl how to skate while subverting her mother’s expectations.
Yeah, it’s good stuff. Here’s how it plays out:
Reporter: So what was it that made you want to help that girl when you saw her?
Skater: Well when I was 7, my mother brought me to the park and I didn’t know anything about skating. What I came to learn is that there isn’t a lot of romanticism around this sport. It’s not baseball, or football, or soccer. But it is special in its own way and, no matter how you feel about it, it’s still a challenge to do well. And you can earn a tremendous amount of satisfaction from skating well. And when you think about it, that’s really all life is. A series of challenges. School, work, relationships. These are not easy things. They’re not simple. Some people are lucky enough to have guidance. Good parents. Good role models. Many more are not. And it takes a lot to get out of bed every morning and to say that you’ve decided to take on another day. Living doesn’t always feel like the blessing that it is. So when I saw that little girl there. And when I saw her take her first few runs and that she was struggling to get her feet right, I thought that it was only right to help. She might not end up loving skating enough to stick with it. Like anything else, if she wants to get good at it, she has a lot of falls ahead of her, but I like to think I made today a bit easier and maybe tomorrow too. And, if nothing else, I think that’s what we’re all here to do for one another in the first place.