No Credit?

Recently I wrote an article at work about a 5 year old boy who dialed 911 when his mother was choking on a chip. The police showed up and gave the mother the heimlich. The boy is credited with saving his mom's life.

I work for a small newspaper. It's not like the big boys at the New York Times. The Associated Press (AP) picked up my story and cut it in half, and now the story about a five year old boy is everywhere. It's on ABC and CBS news, the Miami Herald, the New York Times. And just to name a few other papers and websites that have picked it up include, Boston, Kentucky, Philadephia, Chicago, Rapid City, and the list goes on. All you have to do is google the five year olds name which is Mathew Rissler.

I'm only putting his name on here so you can actually read the story, because it's actually pretty interesting and heart-warming. When you read the story on the net you will see the story is really short. My original story was longer.

I guess at first I was upset that my story was picked up by the AP and of course my name wasn't on it. But that's the AP and they can do that. But now I'm realizing that my story is getting read by millions and I can take some comfort in knowing that those millions of people wouldn't even know the story of a five year old boy saving his mother's life by dialing 911 if it wasn't for me; even if I don't get credit.

Maybe with journalism it's better to sit back in the shadows and let the actual hero, which is the five year old boy, to have the center stage. I just have to realize that with being a journalist I won't always get credit and not everyone will like what I write.

I just have to remember what my editor said to me, or at least what I think he said, "Don't let it get in the way of your creative juices."

Maybe he's right. I should keep on writing and doing my job the best I can.