Friday, February 16, 2007

Forgiveness Isn't Easy

The Clarion Ledger did an article on the phenomenal turnout for the blood drive at Mississippi Blood Services on Valentines Day and the fact that we broke a record. The newspaper interviewed Kelly Scrivner at MBS and Marshall Ramsey, but didn't interview me (although I was mentioned). Several people have commented how offended they were that the reporter didn't acknowledge how I spear-headed the campaign for the blood drive.

I would be remiss if I didn't explain that the C-L and WJTV (our competitor) are in partnership. This means the C-L doesn't promote WLBT, its stories or anchors--only WJTV. It's business, not personal. Also when I left WAPT 9 years ago to come to WLBT, the C-L wrote several unflattering articles about me, always interviewing WAPT management and never once interviewed me to find out why I really left. All of that is water under the bridge and is covered more in depth in my book that will be published in the next year.

I learned a long time ago forgiveness is not about the other person, but about me. I had to forgive the C-L, WAPT and everyone else involved or I would be entangled in a life of misery and unrest. It is the same for the mention in the recent article. No, I'm not offended nor upset. Satan uses principalities to control personalities. That means Satan uses other people, situations, comments, etc to control how I act, perceive myself or how I feel on any given day. I refuse to give him power over my emotions and withhold my joy today.

Don't let him use other people to control you either!

3 comments:

Marshall Ramsey said...

For the record, this is what I wrote on my blog:

Article about the Blood Drive. (link) I personally think that Barbie's great promotion was why the drive was a huge success. The shirt was just icing on the cake.

KeithAR2002 said...

Once again, Barbie, you have a wonderful way of putting things into perspective. You always choose exactly the right words in anything you say, and I think it's great that you don't get worked up over unfairness. Thank you for devoting so much of your time and energy into events that help everyday people! You don't need me to commend you, though. You already know it!

I didn't know the C-L and WJTV are partners... Isn't the C-L owned by Gannett, and WJTV by Media General? I guess I won't ever understand media partnerships! :(

Barbie Bassett said...

Marshall, you are the best all the way around. I wouldn't expect anything less from you!

Yes, the C-L & WJTV are media partners in that they do what we call "cross promotion" with each other. Although they are owned by different companies, they share content and promote each other in their product. Again, it's a business decision and shouldn't be taken personally..and I don't. (I still love Marshall anyway!)

This blood drive was NOT about me. However, I would have loved the opportunity to thank all of the donors who came and gave time out of their day to make it such a record breaking day for the Mississippi Blood Services. I didn't expect kudos and pats on the back, but I wanted to bring attention to those who participated.