Mike the Writer

As everyone can tell, Mike likes to write.  And write and write.  I just came upon a blog from one of his English teachers where she writes on one of his school papers and asks Mike, "Well Mike, what's it going to be? The next Dan Rather, or the next J.D. Salinger? Pick one, and get busy."

It seems Mike is prolific in the writing department. He can give some of the most eloquent answers, especially when he wants to beat around the bush and doesn't know how to give a simple answer. Check out this masterpiece of verbose on "Why no kids":

"Interesting conversation, and a tricky topic.

The question is certainly personal, and hard to answer without casting a subtle judgment on a certain lifestyle, and probably offending a few people. But what the heck? It's a foggy morning in San Francisco, and I'm feeling verbose, and I'm quite sure that a staggering number of Moms and Dads have no business being parents.

As institutions, I have no problem with marriage or parenthood, and I enjoy kids, when they're enjoyable. But the relative ease into which parenthood can be accomplished is breathtaking, especially when you consider the conspicuous lack of qualifications required. Every other undertaking in life demands some level of proven competence or maturity - from driving a car, to owning a gun, to casting a vote, to having a drink, to building a garage on your own property. Such things require licenses, permits, and permissions. But not raising kids. No. The most difficult task a human being can embark upon - the lifelong commitment of parenthood - requires no qualification whatsoever. And yet, the default question regarding having kids is always "Why not?," and not as bluechild suggests, the far more logical, "Why?"

Personally, I've never heard a really compelling, thoughtful argument for or against parenthood. All positions, when closely examined, reveal the clever workings of our true nature. Our minds are wired to justify and defend those decisions already made, or more often, our own pre-existing condition. This is normal, I think. People with families want to feel good about their decision to have kids. And people without kids don’t want to feel as though they missed out. No one likes regret. So, to preserve the illusion of our own wisdom and sanity, we build apologetics around our current situation, and define the road not taken in a way that justifies our current state. Thus, I find myself looking at my married friends, haggard and worn, surrounded by their screaming toddlers and their petulant teenagers, ungrateful and sullen, and I feel a great sense of personal relief. Likewise, my married friends probably see me as a sad and misguided vagabond who has confused freedom with happiness, and destined to wind up alone in a cold, indifferent world.

Whatever. Envy and Pity are often two sides of the same coin, depending on the kind of day you're having. And we all spend too much time looking for validation and assurances that we haven't botched up our one chance at happiness. In the end, we all just want to feel content with the life we have, so we gravitate toward those who share our choices, and look with curiosity upon those who do not. We validate, we affirm, we reassure, and we add another page to a made-up story that helps us live with the consequences of our decisions, and answer questions like “Mike, why no kids?”

Here’s my answer. My reasoning for not having kids is due to the fact that I’m selfish. And if I ever change my mind and decide to have a family, my reasoning will be the same.



Either way, it's a dirty job."

I think he prefers to give birth to literary manuscripts.

If he had a chance I suppose he would rather be a combination of J. D. MacDonald or David Sedaris, who by the way, is an excellent satirical writer. Mike's writing is closer to Sedaris than any writer. Dan Rather is too out of it as well as Salinger. The Sedaris style is more like Mike and fits his sense of humor.

I imagine Mike sitting and writing in his journals about his life and travels but what will become of this writing?  Will his life be shelved and never read?  I've heard the best analogy of the life of a person is that each person's life is open book.  It only seems Mike is like this in real life where he is fit only to be shelved and forgotten.  His best writing is never seen and never published.  Nothing that will help us see the real person revealed on paper.  Nothing to leave to future generations.  No profound words of wisdom to impart on the masses of people that follow his celebrity.

Yeah, only if he would settle down and finally publish his life.

So, if you want to find out anything on Mike, there are just a few blogs and magazine articles that say the same thing and reveal little of what it is like, being Mike Rowe.