This is Golden

I ran across this video today on a blog I read while sipping on my morning cup of coffee (which is why I'm going to link back there instead of uploading the video here). And honestly, I still feel like I have electricity running through my veins. Go watch it here.

It's no surprise that I love the media. I love writing, reading, and watching. I love magazines with glossy photoshoots and the personality and tone of the editors. I love newspapers and their evolving nature, television (who doesn't like television?), and yes, I actually do take my iPod off the dock to turn on the good 'ole radio pretty often. I spend more time with the media during one day than I do with myself. I made my decision to work in the media when I was 13 years old (that was later confirmed with the release of Thirteen Going on Thirty and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days), and can honestly say that dream never once turned into anything else. Which is why I can relate with this video.

So here's the scene: Little 14-year-old Ted Williams idolizes a radio announcer. When he finally has the opportunity to meet the big man during a field trip in Brooklyn, he's surprised: the voice doesn't match the appearance. Then the the radio announcer  tells Ted that radio is defined as "theater of mind" . "I can do that," Ted thinks. He doesn't think he's handsome enough for television, so he decides his voice is his ticket out of there, his ticket to working in the big time media. He gets out of Brooklyn, attends college in radio broadcasting, but then his life falls to drugs and alcohol. Now two years clean, Ted stands homeless on a street corner come rain or shine with a sign advertising his Golden Voice, a voice so deep, charismatic, and fine-tuned that I cross my heart you'll be watching his lips just to make sure the video hasn't been doctored, which just so happened to be captured on video and posted on YouTube.
The inspiring, exciting part?
After the video went viral, Ted has been bombarded with job offers, including one with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Lessons Learned: Good things do happen. When you love something, stick with it. And the social media phenomenon of our day really is changing lives.
Now, if you haven't already viewed it in the earlier two links I gave you, I'm giving you another: Go watch the video here.