Scott Simon DOES Rock, and He IS Cool

Simon Says All The Right Things. Just Want It On Record.For the longest time, I have felt that the best job in the world is Scott Simon's.

I remember getting a text from my friend Jennifer once that just said, "I want to be Scott Simon when I grow up."  As it happened, I was listening to Simon's report at the time: he was strapping into the rig that they used in the Broadway show Peter Pan, and flying around the theater.

I've been a fan for years, though "fan" is too lite a word for the nearly mythic status the man's journalism has for me.  Somehow he's always seemed totally genuine to me, capable of asking the hardest questions about the most troubling topics, but always with a boundless optimism and a childlike belief in the goodness of the world, that it's worth knowing well and talking about.

This was an article of faith for me until today, when it became a certainty.

His interview with Kiefer Sutherland was so charming and smooth and fun that I actually tweeted at the man.

I did.

For the first time ever, I tweeted AT someone.

@. Scott.  Simon.

I tweeted, "Scott Simon, I want your job, but I'm not nearly cool enough! Great show."

Me, I'm thinking, "Okay, that's fan-tweeting.  I just sent a fan-tweet, and that's the end of that.  I'm good with that."

Five minutes later:

nprscottsimon @riparianchurch: alas, i'm not cool at all--my best wishes for your mother-

I mean, I know that tweeting is the shallowest form of communication imaginable, and it took him maybe two minutes to read my entire short tweet-history.  But how many people do that? 

There it is.  People first.

Can we all just live like Scott?  What would Scott do?

You can slander my brother.  Insult my sister.  Call my dog ugly and ill-behaved.

But don't mess with Scott.