The Bestseller

He talked, and he was eighteen again. A rural boy who’d never set foot in a schoolhouse. His father used a wheelchair. His mother was dead.

I drove four hours to meet the editor of a big-city newspaper. I walked into a large office wearing my nicest necktie. I was young. Wide-eyed.

She told me I had five minutes. I handed her a resume so tiny it needed a magnifying glass.

“You’re not even a journalism major?” she remarked.

“No ma’am.”

“You’re wasting my time. I’ve got real journalists lining up around the block. Find me a good story, and maybe we’ll talk.”

A good story.

The next day, I stopped at a nursing home. I walked inside and asked if there were any storytellers.

The woman at the desk gave me a look. “They’re ALL storytellers, sweetie.”

She introduced me to a ninety-four-year-old man. We sat in the cafeteria. I asked to hear about his life. He said, “You with the IRS or something?”

He talked, and he was eighteen again. A rural boy who’d never set foot in a schoolhouse. His father used a wheelchair. His mother was dead.

Then, he met her. She’d moved to town to teach school. When he saw her at church, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He approached her with an idea.

“I played on her sympathy,” he said. “Was my only hope, she was too pretty to be seen with me.”

He asked her to teach him to read. She agreed. He made fast progress—which was no surprise. He would’ve rather died than disappoint a pretty girl.

They married. She taught, he farmed. During those years, he remembers how they sat together in the evenings, watching fireflies. Love can be simple.

She died before age forty.

It was crippling. He gave up living. His fields went to weed. He lost his farm. He lost himself. He checked into a room at the motor-inn.

“I had nothing left,” he said. “I sat on the bed with a thirty-eight caliber in my hand…”

There sat a leather-bound, bestselling book on the motel nightstand.

He opened it. He read a passage. Then another. And another. He stayed awake all night, reading the red words. That’s when he claimed everything changed.

He remarried. He had three kids, a career working for an auto-part distributor. He paid three tuitions, and watched five grandchildren grow.

“If Loretta wouldn’ta taught me to read,” he said. “I could’a never read the first word, and I wouldn’t be here, talking into your little tape recorder. She saved me.”

That night, I typed seven hundred words about him. It was the first thing I ever wrote that felt important. It took me a week to edit.

The lady at the newspaper showed me the door.

“Sorry,” she said. “This isn’t journalism, we don’t print this kinda thing.”

Like I said, I was young.

He died not long after. They buried him in a suit. Necktie. A ratty book in his hands. He wore a Gideon lapel pin and held a framed copy of an unpublished story some kid wrote about him.

I’m writing this because once, I wanted to be a journalist.

And because I’m grateful we don’t always get everything we want.

55 comments

  1. Alex Dyba - April 10, 2017 1:15 pm

    Always such beautiful, meaningful words to start my day with. Thank you, Sean.

    Reply
  2. Marcia Davis - April 10, 2017 1:18 pm

    Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.

    Reply
    • Jane Ryder, Lake Worth. FL, Tallahassee born & raised - January 10, 2018 12:12 pm

      Exactly what I was thinking. So many heart wrenching stories hiding behind shaky hands and wrinkled faces. Thanks for writing his story, and thanks for not selling out to journalism.

      Reply
  3. Tina - April 10, 2017 1:36 pm

    Wow!! Just wow. I’m so glad you are who you are!!

    Reply
  4. Esteban Rudman - April 10, 2017 1:42 pm

    Most mainstream papers don’t print that kind of story. If it bleeds or if it’s sleaze, it leads. One of the advantages (and disadvantages) of the internet is people get to choose the kind of information they want. You have a very large audience that hungers for encouragement and evidence of human decency rarely seen in the MSM. Keep up the good work Sean.

    Reply
  5. Nona Fox - April 10, 2017 2:00 pm

    I’m glad your not a journalist! It wouldn’t be worth reading if it made the news.
    Your blessed to have the gift to touch so many.
    I like reading your stories to my husband in the mornings…..this morning you mad him cry.

    Reply
  6. Sandra Marrar - April 10, 2017 2:01 pm

    I enjoy your writings so much. I’m really glad you didn’t go into journalism!

    Reply
  7. Juanita Ruth One - April 10, 2017 2:02 pm

    Your writings of these days reach many more people and touch many more hearts than anything you could have done as a newspaper reporter. And I speak from having grown up in a family that owned four newspapers and my having wrote an award-winning op-ed column for 16 years. I really treasure your thoughts and memories. Keep up the good work!

    Reply
  8. Kathryn - April 10, 2017 2:17 pm

    Oh, how I wanted to be a journalist. I was in high school when my name was announced over the intercom listing the students who had “made” the Newspaper Staff. I was thrilled! I didn’t think the writing sample I had submitted would be good enough to beat out the upper classmen for the position. I spent a year learning whatever Ms. Bell could cram into my skull about successful reporting, setting up columns, and writing headlines. It was a hard work class, we had deadlines and our Byline was going to be on what we wrote for everyone to see. We couldn’t just sail through. That’s when I grew to love “Feature writing”. I still love it, but I am so happy that I didn’t become a journalist. I’ve rather lost my respect and zeal for the profession over the last few decades and I’m happy my road took that hairpin turn that landed me in nursing school. Thanks for reminding me.

    Reply
  9. Pat - April 10, 2017 2:23 pm

    Your stories leave me speechless so I never comment but today I just want to say I
    like reading your stories. They leave me with a lot to think about and sometimes in tears. Never consider yourself lazy as you once wrote….when you can write you reach people where it counts. Thank you for sharing your words. Keep writing.

    Reply
  10. Randy Prewitt - April 10, 2017 2:23 pm

    I’m proud to be a Southerner. Your writing makes me prouder. I’m in Louisiana and my younger sister in Atlanta “put me on” to your work. I did TV Journalism for nearly 40-years. Local stations. It’s so much more truthful and accurate than the big time network stuff. Still, as you subtly pointed out I guess we can all thank God for our “unanswered prayers. Thanks Sean.

    Reply
  11. Jill Prince - April 10, 2017 2:25 pm

    Ok, you have got to stop sending these stories in the morning. I cry at work every time! 🙂 You have a wonderful God given talent.

    Reply
  12. Serena - April 10, 2017 2:27 pm

    “They’re ALL storytellers, sweetie.”

    There’s always one line that resonates with me for the day.

    I am grateful.

    Have a great day.

    Reply
  13. Emily - April 10, 2017 2:28 pm

    Love, love, love this! It speaks volumes about both our love for each other and Christ’s redeeming love for us, with a little hint of disdain for the motives of journalism today.

    Reply
  14. Marthajane Cassidey - April 10, 2017 2:46 pm

    I read you first every day as an antidote to the news.

    Reply
  15. Jeannie - April 10, 2017 2:59 pm

    Thank you for not being a journalist. I often wonder how they really feel about their chosen careers. I hope you feel very good about yours because we need you!

    Reply
  16. Courtney - April 10, 2017 3:05 pm

    It doesn’t get any better than this. Thanks for sharing the beautiful stories of ordinary people.

    Reply
  17. Perri Williamson - April 10, 2017 3:06 pm

    Beautiful. Thank you for telling that gentleman’s story. Beautiful and uplifting.

    Reply
  18. Cynthia Broaddrick - April 10, 2017 4:05 pm

    Absolutely wonderous, beautiful. Tears.

    Reply
  19. Sam Hunneman - April 10, 2017 5:12 pm

    Oh to know the future. How fortunate, most of the time, that we cannot.
    Good things, little boxes, and someone who knows how to open a few. Thanks again.

    Reply
  20. Dianne Shafer - April 10, 2017 5:16 pm

    So are we, Sean Dietrich, so are we.

    Reply
  21. Fran - April 10, 2017 5:17 pm

    It’s all been said by other commenters but I just had to let you know how grateful I am for your stories. I just found your blog a couple of weeks back and you have impacted my life. Thank you

    Reply
  22. Susie Munz - April 10, 2017 5:24 pm

    I loved your story,Sean. Great message.

    Reply
  23. Olivia Grizle - April 10, 2017 6:03 pm

    I love your stories. So down to earth and heartwarming. I recently found you, and now enjoy reading your stories every day. Thanks for sharing them . I share a lot on my Facebook page.

    Reply
  24. Michael Bishop - April 10, 2017 6:41 pm

    Sean, you ARE a journalist. Your almost daily blogs are journal extracts. You just don’t happen to be a journalist in the employ of a newspaper. That does not, however, disqualify you from assuming the honorific journalist (when it’s applied as it ought to be applied, meaning writers who investigate matters and report the truth as they have discovered it rather than as it decided in advance by a particular editorial dictum).

    You are also more than a journalist because you have written novels and even, I would bet, some imaginative pieces that rework what actually happened in ways that reveal a fictive truth that is not fake or pseudo-, but instead a revelation of something deeper and wiser than we would recognize if not for its artfully reconfigured context.

    Would you like some examples of other writers who tell the truth, but who tell it slant (to use Emily Dickinson’s words), not to dupe their readers but to open our eyes to things we’ve never seen quite so clearly before? Well, try William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, or Harper Lee. You’re a journalist, Sean, but you’re also more. So keep writing and forget that big-city-newspaper editor who gave you five measly minutes to bare your talents and your soul.

    Reply
  25. Harriet - April 10, 2017 7:16 pm

    Sean, I “stumbled” across your writing on Facebook one day and immediately asked to be added to your email list. You make me smile, cry, and/or say thank you every day. Keep doing what you do. You make us know that the world is not as dark as we’re often led to believe.

    Reply
  26. Ann Landers - April 10, 2017 7:19 pm

    We need more writers and fewer journalists.

    Reply
  27. Sherry Saunders - April 10, 2017 7:34 pm

    WOW, beautiful story. I’ve just attended 2 funerals the past couple of days. They were
    both of good friends who had lived wonderful “Love Stories” in their lives. There is so
    much to be said about life, love and marriage! It’s not all about what you have, but who
    you spend your life with. Also being with a mate who loves the Lord as much as you do,
    is truly a blessing from above. God Bless You with your writings. So glad you did not
    choose to be a journalist, but a True Writer and wonderful person who can touch so many
    with your words. Thank You and keep it up, please.

    Reply
  28. James Godwin - April 10, 2017 9:03 pm

    Sean, you have a knack for ending a great story with a tear jerking last sentence or two.
    I love to weep over your stories.

    Reply
  29. Pat Byers - April 10, 2017 10:16 pm

    It grips you from the first sentences. Fragments that begin to form the story. You read more. And by the time, you come to the end, it is those last few sentences.. the punch line if you will, that moves you to tears every time. Journalists don’t do that.
    You do.
    Thank you.

    Reply
  30. Melissa Armstrong - April 11, 2017 12:46 am

    I’m glad you kept writing.

    Reply
  31. Michael Hawke - April 11, 2017 1:42 am

    Well put brother, well put.

    Reply
  32. Priscilla S. Adkisson - April 11, 2017 10:38 am

    Great, Sean! I truly enjoy your heartwarming stories each day.
    I also enjoy reading the comments of your readers, and know these warm YOUR heart.
    PSA

    Reply
  33. Willie - April 14, 2017 7:24 am

    Good, Sean.

    Reply
  34. Nancy Kane - June 9, 2017 2:13 pm

    I’m glad you are a listener.

    Reply
  35. Cathi Russell - June 9, 2017 2:16 pm

    There’s journalism…or what passes for it today…and then there’s you.

    Reply
  36. Ben Smith - June 9, 2017 4:50 pm

    Awesome

    Reply
  37. Sandra - June 9, 2017 6:05 pm

    You brought me to tears. Nothing unusual about this, but I want you to know how much I appreciate it. ♥

    Reply
  38. regina chandler - June 9, 2017 7:57 pm

    Thank you.

    Reply
  39. Sam Seetin - June 10, 2017 12:41 am

    Lordy, someday yellow journalists might be turned to capture the essence Americans soul by writing and publising good stories like this one.

    Reply
  40. Dawn Todhunter - June 10, 2017 5:05 am

    Please tell me you sent a copy of this to that big city editor.

    Reply
  41. Susan in Georgia - July 3, 2017 11:27 am

    You’ve got a larger, more appreciative audience than any ol’ dadgum newspaper. Journalism, be hanged. That woman editor made a huge mistake by not hiring you ~ her loss, but our gain. Thank you, Sean, for remaining true to yourself, doing what God obviously put you on earth to accomplush. You make thousands of us happy every day.

    Reply
    • Juanita Ruth One - July 4, 2017 2:19 am

      I totally agree! Sean is a true daily blessing to many!

      Reply
  42. J.C. - January 10, 2018 8:58 am

    Joe Namath was asked by a reporter if he had majored in basket weaving while at Bama. Joe replied, “No, journalism. It’s easier.”

    Reply
  43. Peggy - January 10, 2018 11:40 am

    Sometimes God has different plans doesn’t he, your writings bless do many each day…thank you

    Reply
  44. Rosemary Jordan - January 10, 2018 12:45 pm

    Thanks for giving us part of you….which now is part of us,

    Reply
  45. Rosemary Jordan - January 10, 2018 12:47 pm

    Thanks for giving us part of you witch is now part of us

    Reply
  46. Kay Mixon - January 10, 2018 3:52 pm

    Wish I could write with the heart …….as you

    Reply
  47. Dolly - January 10, 2018 9:16 pm

    Wonderful! Each as good as the last. Every time I think , “Oh, that was his best!”. You go and do another!

    Reply
  48. Annette H. Bailey - January 10, 2018 10:26 pm

    Sean….I’m glad, in a way, that you didn’t get the job as a journalist. You might not have met the girl you are so in love with, or have that precious animal who loves to sit beside you in your ratty old…but wonderful truck. I’m thankful I get to read your stories. You take me back, all the time, to a place I’d never forget but tend to get too big for my britches, as my Mom put it. She is with Dad in heaven now since July 2017 and she was my story teller. Thank you for your heart felt stories. If you’re ever passing through Andalusia, let me know…I play the guitar and I happen to be from Hank Williams home town in Georgiana but made Andalusia my hometown 38 yrs.,ago with my true love. We couldn’t have kids but that was Gods way I guess. Mom told me He knew best even though I didn’t believe it at the time. I do now even though we love kids. Thanks again for sure a “tug at my heart”. I think I’ll get my guitar and play Hank’s “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”.I’m missing Mom right now and that was one of her favorites!

    Reply
  49. Sue Cronkite - January 18, 2018 9:08 am

    When I worked for the Birmingham News in the 1960–1980s, we put “good news” stories on the front page, along with the bad, and many feature stories. I wrote and edited a good number myself. We wrote “straight down the middle” news. Telling it straight and honest. Those were the days.

    Reply
  50. Barbara Bray - December 30, 2018 4:56 am

    Bless your heart, Sean…. and I mean that in a good way .

    Reply
  51. marthajaneorlando - February 7, 2019 2:42 am

    I thought I wanted to be a journalist, too, but I, like you, wrote from the heart. May you continue to tell those amazing stories, Sean! You can look me up here at https://marthaorlando.blogspot.com. You might just be interested in reading my blog and my novels.
    Blessings!

    Reply
  52. Gloria Rumph - February 28, 2019 9:20 pm

    Beautiful story Sean, sometimes it works out for the best when we don’t get what we want!????

    Reply
  53. Shirley Kelly - January 24, 2021 1:09 pm

    This really touched my heart, a Gideon brought me to the Lord. So glad he read that best seller when he did. Gideons don’t know how many people have been saved by the work they do. Thank you for your stories. You are a blessing too.

    Reply

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