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Many of the people I run in to while out on stories always comment, "wow your job must be really exciting because you get go all over and see everything first hand." I usually say my job is more interesting than exciting. While it's true that I get to be on scene of major events at the same time I cover a lot of events that make me uncomfortable. When you get an assignment to interview a family that has just lost someone due to tragic event it is very hard. It's hard to make the phone call and ask the family if you can come and talk to them about the situation. I've even been to a press conference several years ago where the reporters were so uncomfortble with the situation that no one asked the first question because it seemed inappropriate. So while I get to talk with many facinating people it's usually during the best time of their life or the worst time of their life. A majority of the time it's the latter.
That being said some of the best interviews and experiences I've had as a reporter have been while talking to families about their lost loved ones. Many times the families have actually invited me in to their homes because one way to help them cope with the loss is to spread the message and possibly save the life of someone else whether it's drugs, drunk driving, speeding, or anything else. Some of the relationships I've been able to build with these families have been far more rewarding than any journalism award I've received during the past several years. I think it also helps me remember that everything I cover has an impact on people and I think when a reporter forgets the human factor behind every story they stop being a good reporter.
On occasion someone will comment and say they can't believe we (reporters) barge in to people's lives and bother them during such a tragic time. Well a good majority of the time we're invited sometimes we're not. I think people would be surprised to find out the media really aren't that bad. It's not true in all cases but there always seems to be one bad apple in the bunch at every job site.
Anyways I had the opportunity to interview a family that recently lost a son and brother to meth. One thing that made this situation stand out is that the family wants everyone to understand the situation and hopefully by doing that another life may be saved so that other families don't have to endure the same loss as this family in West Haven. A 20 year old name Brody Nelson apparently was influenced to try meth and he died after trying the drug for the first time. The family could have just hid away and not done anything about it, but they are trying to let others in Utah know that it could happen to them. While their son always said he wouldn't do drugs it just took one bad outside influence to change the situation. The family included in their son's obituary the fact that their son died from complications due to drug use because they want people to be aware it could happen to any child in any town. Already the family has received feed back from others in the community who have gone through similar experiences. By telling their story they may save the life of some other child and turn a tragic situation in to an opportunity to help others. I think situations like this are some of the great things that most people don't get to hear about.
