Follow up to last night's post-call me naive

I met a two of my journalist friends for lunch today. Over sandwiches and soup in a Puerto Rican luncheonette we talked about careers, our families and the politics of reporting. One of us commented that the "kicker quote" at the end of a piece can tell the reader how the writer really feels about a particular issue. I'm not sure that even the most able journalist can write about issues he or she carers about in an objective manner. We talked about the value of moving from covering controversial issues in a way that polarizes to covering them from an individual, human perspective (what if newspapers reported on abortion or the war in Iraq that way?) I regaled them with some of my dating adventures (and misadventures)-their tolerant incredulity at my ignorance was humbling, to say the least. It felt like a tough love session with a couple of big brothers. I realized that, as I said last night, I had spent many years in a virtual cocoon-and was blithely oblivious to signs of trouble that most other people might have picked up on. Although he agreed with me that I was naive, one of them said that my desire to see the inner light in everyone I met was one of my endearing qualities. I hope so-because I don't seem to be able to shake it.