Cable Positive

An excerpt from my 2008 Power Awards speech:

THIS IS QUITE AN HISTORIC NIGHT—NOT JUST HERE, BUT AROUND THE COUNTRY. RIGHT NOW, IN TEXAS AND OHIO, PEOPLE ARE POURING OUT TO THE POLLS TO MAKE HISTORY IN THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR—THE AIR IS POSITIVELY CRACKLING WITH UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES.

BUT, 75 YEARS AGO TONIGHT—MARCH 4, 1933—THERE WAS ANOTHER STARKER, DARKER POSSIBILITY IN THE AIR, AND A LEADER WHO CONQUERED A PHYSICAL DISABILITY ADDRESSED THAT FEAR:

“WE NOW REALIZE,” FDR SAID, “ AS WE HAVE NEVER BEFORE, OUR INTERDEPENDENCE ON EACH OTHER; THAT WE CANNOT MERELY TAKE, BUT WE MUST GIVE AS WELL.”

FAST FORWARD FROM FDR TO OUR DVRS, TO DAVOS, SWITZERLAND, SIX WEEKS AGO—THE SONG & THE SINGER ARE DIFFERENT, BUT THE MELODY LINGERS ON:

“AS I SEE IT” SAID BILL GATES, HELENE GAYLE’S FORMER COLLEAGUE, “THERE ARE 2 GREAT FORCES OF HUMAN NATURE: SELF INTEREST & CARING FOR OTHERS. I LIKE TO CALL THIS NEW SYSTEM CREATIVE CAPITALISM,” HE CONTINUED, “WHERE GOVERNMENTS, BUSINESS & NON-PROFITS WORK TOGETHER TO STRETCH THE REACH OF MARKET FORCES, SO THAT MORE PEOPLE CAN MAKE A PROFIT, OR GAIN RECOGNITION DOING WORK THAT EASES THE WORLD’S INEQUITIES.”

SIXTEEN YEARS EARLIER, CABLE POSITIVE FOUNDER JEFF BERNSTEIN—WHO IS NOW USING HIS E-BAY MARKETING COMPANY TO RAISE MONEY & AWARENESS FOR OUR CAUSE—JOINED WITH A HANDFUL OF CABLE INDUSTRY COLLEAGUES, TO MARRY THOSE TWO GREAT FORCES OF HUMAN NATURE: SELF INTEREST & CARING FOR OTHERS, AND MOBILIZE THE POWER, REACH, CREATIVITY & TALENT OF THIS INFLUENTIAL INDUSTRY TO “EASE THE WORLD’S INEQUITIES” AND FIGHT HIV/AIDS.

ONE BILLION DOLLARS OF PRO-BONO AIRTIME LATER—AND $20 MILLION DOLLARS OF DONATIONS THAT HAVE TOUCHED THOUSANDS OF LIVES—INCLUDING SOME 275 AIDS SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS IN 40 STATES---AND, AS RECENTLY AS YESTERDAY 3 MORE IN SOUTH AFRICA—THE COLLECTIVE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF CABLE POSITIVE STANDS AS A MODEL FOR INDUSTRIES AROUND THE WORLD TO USE THEIR POWER FOR GOOD.

IN OUR LIFETIMES, WE HAVE BEEN GRACED WITH—AND GRIEVED OVER—FRIENDS & FAMILY & COLLEAGUES WHOSE EVERY BREATH WAS INFUSED WITH THIS INTUITION—OF USING THEIR POWER FOR GOOD. IN HIS BOOK, “DAYS OF GRACE” ARTHUR ASHE DESCRIBES A LETTER WRITTEN TO HIM BY A 5^TH GRADER, WHO, AFTER READING OF FDR’S MARCH OF DIMESCAMPAIGN TO FIGHT POLIO, ASKS ASHE—LOCKED IN THE MATCH OF HIS LIFE WITH AIDS:

“CAN YOU FIND A WAY TO ASK ALL AMERICANS TO SEND A DOLLAR BILL TO FIGHT AIDS, AND WE COULD CALL IT THE MARCH OF DOLLARS?”

IT IS A STORY—A CHALLENGE, REALLY—OF PROFOUND SIGNIFICANCE TO ME, SINCE MY MOTHER—WHO PASSED AWAY JUST ELEVEN WEEKS AGO--LIVED WITH POLIO & PARALYSIS FOR 92 YEARS. SHE PERSONIFIED WHAT JONATHAN LARSEN MEANT WHEN HE WROTE THE LYRICAL LESSON IN THE MUSICAL “RENT” OF SOMEONE—“LIVING WITH, LIVING WITH, LIVING WITH, NOT DYING FROM DISEASE,” EVEN THOUGH THE DISEASE HE WROTE ABOUT WAS AIDS, NOT POLIO. THAT DID NOT MATTER—MY MOTHER SAW NO DIFFERENCE—IT WAS THE WILL TO LIVE, TO NEVER GIVE UP OR GIVE IN OR GIVE OUT-- TO USE YOUR GIFTS TO HELP OTHERS, THAT GAVE YOUR LIFE MEANING.

I THINK BACK TO WATCHING AN HBO MOVIE WITH HER ABOUT FDR’S STRUGGLE WITH POLIO. SHE SAT IN HER WHEELCHAIR, AS SHE WATCHED HIM HIDE THE EXISTENCE OF HIS, AND SHE REMEMBERED BEING KEPT OUT OF THE PUBLIC SWIMMING POOLS IN GREENWICH VILLAGE, WHERE SHE WAS BORN, BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE AFRAID THEY MIGHT “CATCH” THE POLIO VIRUS. “JUST LIKE AIDS,” SHE SAID. “JUST LIKE AIDS.” SO WHAT DID SHE DO? SHE TAUGHT HERSELF TO SWIM IN THE OCEAN, AND RAISED FOUR CHILDREN WITH HER ONE “GOOD” ARM---“LIVING WITH, LIVING WITH, NOT DYING FROM DISEASE,” LIKE MANY, MANY OTHERS WHO HAVE TOUCHED US ACUTELY— LIKE PAST CABLE POSITIVE HONOREE JIM ROBBINS AND FRED DRESSLER, WHOM WE’LL NEVER LOSE AS LONG AS WE HONOR THE WAY THEY LIVED, AND CARED AND LOVED.

I AM REMINDED OF A LITTLE KNOWN SPEECH DELIVERED BY ANOTHER OF MY HEROES, 40 YEARS AGO LAST MONTH, TO THE VERY DAY:

“ IF ANY OF YOU ARE AROUND WHEN I HAVE TO MEET MY DAY, I DON’T WANT A LONG FUNERAL,” HE SAID. “I’D LIKE FOR SOMEONE TO MENTION THAT DAY, THAT I TRIED TO GIVE MY LIFE SERVING OTHERS; THAT I TRIED TO LOVE SOMEBODY.”

“YES, IF YOU WANT TO SAY THAT I WAS A DRUM MAJOR, SAY THAT I WAS A DRUM MAJOR FOR JUSTICE—A DRUM MAJOR FOR PEACE. ALL OF THE OTHER SHALLOW THINGS WILL NOT MATTER. I WON’T HAVE ANY MONEY TO LEAVE BEHIND. I WON’T HAVE THE FINE & LUXURIOUS THINGS OF LIFE TO LEAVE BEHIND.”

“BUT,” SAID DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., “I JUST WANT TO LEAVE A COMMITTED LIFE BEHIND.”

A COMMITTED LIFE------THAT IS THE KIND OF POWER & PASSION THAT DRIVES CABLE POSITIVE, AND MANY OF THE PEOPLE IN THIS ROOM TONIGHT.

OUR THREE HONOREES EXEMPLIFY THIS ETHIC, THESE GOOD LIVES OF ACTION, AND TEACH US HOW WE ARE ALL “LIVING WITH, LIVING WITH—NOT DYING FROM THIS DISEASE,” AND HOW, TOGETHER, LIKE FDR & BILL GATES & DR. KRIM & DR. KING, AND YES, EVEN A LITTLE, WHEELCHAIR BOUND ITALIAN WOMAN LIKE MARGARET JULIA VILLANO—HOW WE CAN ALL MAKE THIS LIFE MUCH BETTER.

THAT POWER, THAT STRENGTH, THAT PASSION TO “EASE THE WORLD’S INEQUITIES” IS IN EACH OF US. WE JUST HAVE TO USE IT.