We're pretty far along in this essay, aren't we? A few thousand words, at least. And here you are still reading. You have to be one of my regular readers, right? Do I even have any regular readers? I have no idea how many readers I have, or if I have any. 

     Bill Clinton's labor secretary, Robert Reich, has a great story. While in college, he got a part time job as an all-night disc jockey at a middle of the road radio station. It's quarter after three in the morning, and Reich tries an experiment to confirm a suspicion. 

​     At the next break, he says into the mike, "I'm about to do something very special, ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to take a twenty dollar bill out of my pocket, and I'm going to give it to the first person who calls me here at the station." He gives the number of the station. "No strings. Just call me and tell me where to send the money."

​     No response.

​     At the next break, he upped the ante. "I'll make it fifty dollars," he said. "Call me here at the station, and I will give you a fifty-dollar bill."

     Still no response.

​     Absolutely no one was listening to his radio broadcast.

     That's me. I have no idea whether if anyone is reading these words or will ever read these words.

     If you are reading these words, though, first, thank you, thank you, thank you.

     Second, the rest of this essay is for you and you alone, my way of sending you a twenty or fifty dollar bill.

     Ready?

     Here we go.

CONTINUE