"Sometimes your critics compliment you more than your friends," says my former Professor Glenn Hinson.
It's one of those lines that make you stop and ponder it even though it sits in middle of a paragraph about other things. Then again Glenn has an incredible gift of saying or writing something that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let you go.
I've collected my fair share of critics over the years and they remain an active lot.
I owe them a lot too I suppose.
My first YouTube video was done by Clara Mae Curry during which she rips me a new one. Sitting in Forsyth Park, dressed for Church and sitting as though on a pew, she tells the universe that "Micheal Elliott is not the great I AM. Micheal Elliott is not God. Micheal Elliott is not Jesus and Micheal Elliott couldn't hold the staff of Moses."
There's a lot of other stuff I can't do either.
It's pretty good!
You can YouTube it and see for yourself.
These days though you have to work your way down the list to find Clara's "testimony." There's a bunch of videos of me and they likely wouldn't be there if she hadn't taken the initiative to tell the world what a lousy person I am.
I thanked her once, when she'd called the press and getting mad at them when they refused to interview her. She was carrying a sign outside my office proclaiming, "Micheal Elliott eats well but others don't!"
The reporter stuck a microphone in front of my face when I walked up demanding to know what I had to say to Mrs. Curry?
Clara looked at me with anticipation.
"Well," I said unprepared for the interview. "She's absolutely right. It's hard to argue with that. I do eat better than most of the world. Famine is everywhere. People go hungry. Thank you Clara for bringing this matter to light."
The reporter and Clara looked deflated as I strolled back to my office.
The reporter got in her car and left but Clara, God Bless Her, spent another two hours marching up and down the sidewalk letting the world know what she thought.
That was a decade ago.
Whenever I miss Clara ... or get to thinking too much about myself ... I just YouTube me and she's right there reminding me that I'm not all that.
