Off the Record

 

There is a developing story in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal that has to do with a dispute between China and the United States. I can’t say any more about it than that and you’ll soon see why.  In the articles a source close to the investigation is quoted…a source close to the action…a source on the inside who says…

You’ve read it a thousand times before.  Woodward and Bernstein had them.  Cronkite had them. Every reporter worth his or her salt has used them. The source.

That mysterious individual who somehow knows the story but has gone on deep background and refuses to be seen – but is heard: that is the source.  They tell the story from the shadows.  They give the facts of the deeds from the other room.  They phone it in. They are the expert witness who never gets called to the witness stand, but somehow leads all the other parties to that point. The source.

Remember Deep Throat – the man, not the movie. Deep Throat was the ultimate source. He brought a Presidency down. From the shadows. Faceless and unknown. But with information that was so precise that an entire nation was shaken to its core.

Well, the other day I was having dinner with friends and I was sitting next to the source in this breaking news that the Times and the Journal are falling all over themselves covering.

The source asked me to pass the potatoes. I did.  And the peas and some more iced tea. The source was polite and kind and very knowledgeable about a lot of things including hockey, which I know little about.

He also knew a lot about this story. Everything it seems. But he didn’t say anything at the table about the story, nor did he speak of it when we adjourned to the den for after dinner drinks and dessert. No, he talked of grandchildren, baseball and politics.  And hockey.

The fact is, not until this story broke did I even know he was remotely connected to it; and then only by accident – a relative’s slip of the tongue. A huge international story and he is the source everyone is quoting. Today, the source close to the parties said…

That’s the guy who asked for more potatoes – he’s the guy who took a second helping of apple crumble. He’s the guy who hundreds of thousands of readers in two giant countries – world powers– are reading about diligently everyday to find out what is really going on – the insider.  The guy with the goods. The guy in the know.

The source was sitting next to me at dinner and wanted more potatoes. You don’t think about that often.  That somebody who is shaping the news of our times, in what will be one of the biggest stories of 2012 is a neighbor, a friend, a father and a son and a guy who knows an awful lot about things that important people have in play and maybe don’t want you to know about.  My buddy did though.  He’s the source.

The source may be the person next to you on the subway or the L. It could be a carpool buddy. You may share an elevator with him or her everyday. That little league coach, that Sunday school teacher – they could all be the source. You never know. The source is faceless, nameless and invisible.

Except the one I know.

The source- the one I know – is just a regular guy.  He likes to play ball with his kid in the front yard; he likes popping a cold one on a hot summer’s afternoon by the pool, while the steaks sizzle over the glowing embers of the charcoal. He likes to go to movies or to concerts or to work on cars in the garage behind his house. He is just like you or me.  Only he knew a lot about something the world is really going to be interested in. 

That and hockey.