Apparently I have more power than I think
My article on vegan and vegetarian athletes for ESPN.com has garnered a fair bit of attention. Traffic was high, despite the story failing to get the coveted top slot on Page 2. It also reached as high as No. 4 on the Most Sent list, beating out some big-name writers and big stories on the site this week (thanks to all of you who passed it along!).
But the most fascinating effect of the article was that it prompted at least five readers to make major lifestyle changes, either by switching to healthier eating, or to full-on vegetarianism or veganism. I find this both shocking and humbling, that intelligent people would read a random article by some hoser–who’s neither vegetarian nor vegan, mind you–and decide to change their way of life, potentially forever. It’s really amazing to actually have that kind of influence in your job, and it’s a reminder that every word matters, that I have to always strive for the highest quality in my writing and reporting, knowing how much people seem to truly care.
All of this also got me thinking. Sure it’s great that people are now thinking more about what goes into their bodies, the environment, all that junk. But if I really hold that kind of sway over people, I need to put this to better use. With that in mind, it’s time to take a page out of The Happy Dude’s playbook:
SENDING JONAH KERI $20 WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY
By Jonah Keri
Special to Page 2
Sending a check, money order or cash in the amount of $20 to Jonah Keri can substantitally increase day-to-day happiness, researchers at Springfield University confirmed Thursday.
The Springfield study looked at two groups of 300 people each. One group sent $20 to Jonah Keri, while the placebo group merely wished Jonah could have $20.
“The results were astounding,” said Professor John Frink, a veteran researcher in the field of giving money to wise-acre Canadians and a 2005 Nobel Prize winner for successfully reanimating his shark-eaten father. “Sending $20 to Jonah Keri turned these gloomy shmendricks into bundles of boychik buoyancy…a-hai-HAI…glaven.”
Frink said a new study is under way to measure the effects of sending Jonah Keri $40. The Phase II clinical trial looks promising, he noted, “with the jumping and the laughing and the hai-hai-hai!”
Reached for comment on the studies’ findings, Keri said he also accepts PayPal.
I read it while consuming a half rack of wildebeest ribs. But I’ve never been much of a joiner.