5:09
Writer’s Note: This is part 2 of an account of my opportunity to meet a man whom I, as do millions of other people, greatly respect and admire. Sitting down right now, I know this is going to be challenging to write. Dr. Savage has a larger than life public persona, yet personally he values privacy, I will do my best to respect that in the process of getting my personal development message across.
Savage is generous and amiable to his guests in a group setting and what he says about himself, in essence, not being a kind of touchy-feely social butterfly is true.
After meeting him, in my mind at least, simply confirms that what his personality is like is just like what he says it is. I realize after so many successful years on the radio, he has to be consistent. Whether you like him or not, you have to respect a person who has the courage and skill to say what he means, especially when it comes to speaking the truth to power day after day.
As guests, we were not allowed to take photos at this event although we were privileged to become part of his photo album through his private photographer. So don’t expect to see any photos of Savage and our family together in this blog, I do not have any in my possession.
San Francisco, the beautiful City by the Bay. Image source: blog.wsd.net
There’s something desperately odd and fantastic about being star struck by another human being. I mean, we all have to eat and relieve ourselves, wash our hands after going to the bathroom, so what’s the big deal? There’s something supernatural at play and as you and I go through our lives we get glimpses of something that is so far beyond us, it’s extraordinarily difficult to see clearly for extended lengths of time.
I remember distinctly that day as we arrived in the City to finally meet our host who has a clandestine nature about his social events.
It was a beautiful summer day, the sky was blue and the winds were picking up as they often do by the Bay in late afternoon. My family walked from the parking garage and the venturi effect in the little alleyway supercharged the wind to an unnatural speed so that I hat to brace the straw fedora on my head.
I had prepared, actually to be honest, I pleaded with my two children, who were 7 and 4 at the time, to be extraordinarily good mannered, we could not afford to be in the midst this new and influential group and be seen as the parents with two kids who were out of control!
As we arrived at the restaurant, and I know this feeling was so inside of me and no one else could care, it was larger than life, to go into a busy establishment and be able to tell the maitre’d “We’re with Michael Savage.”
We were graciously led to our “mystery” location and what we were received by came to me as a shock. In my head I had been expecting a sort of grand reception into a hall with a hundred people, and what we discovered was an incredibly quaint and dimly lighted private study setting that challenged my boundaries. There could not have been more than 30 chairs set up in a manner for a front of the room presentation, but for a remarkably private and intimate audience.
Dr. Savage hadn’t arrived yet, so I had an opportunity to talk with a few people and listening to some entertaining anecdotes while feeding ourselves and our kids hors d’oeuvres. We had the privilege of meeting some people very close to our host, including some of his best friends and family and the dog sitter.
There were some people, like us who had never met Michael before and were just as awed and excited with anticipation, as well as a other who had been to other spontaneously arranged events.
And I know, that most of you out there, if you follow Savage at all, would like to know what Teddy is like. That cool furry little grey poodle who was freely meandering through the small crowd. And in my memory, as my daughter is afraid of dogs, Teddy had no such ill-affect on her as the kids had a chance to stroke his curly fur as he walked by where we were sitting.
As a guest I was hyper-aware of two things, one I was the only guest who brought children (young children at that) , and two, my family were the only ones of Asian descent.
I felt both privileged and a bit overwhelmed especially when Savage finally arrived and as he took his place at the front where the lights were more focused, one of the first things he spoke publicly was to make sure “Mr. Yee” was here and to make sure my children were comfortably settled in.
Over the next hour and a half or so, Michael gave us an update on himself and of his new book Abuse of Power. He also opened himself for questions from the small crowd. I didn’t ask anything but I wish I had the good question to ask and naturally , listened with avid interest to the entire discussion.
Afterwards, we had an opportunity to shake hands, take photos with Savage and exchange pleasantries. My wife and I were pleased that he took the time to connect with our two children who were remarkably quiet and well behaved that evening. It’s easy to place Savage in the role of the school teacher that he was in some of his prior experiences.
The most unanticipated and bizarre occurrence that could qualify for a scene in a Pulp-Fiction type movie was directly after Savage’s formal reception, before he was to leave, he casually invited those nearby to take a tour of the restaurant’s refrigerated meat locker where there were dozens of hanging prosciutto dangling from the ceiling. If I recall, he said in a somewhat whimsical tone, something like, “Well – let’s take a look at this meat locker…”
Naturally, my wife and I and our kids, who happened to be within easy ear shot… followed our gracious host into the meat locker.
To this day, I’m not sure if we were meant to be in there, but we followed him in to see his photographer and a couple of others where he did a brief photo shoot.
So here we were standing off to the side in the restaurant’s giant refrigerator, the door closed, with just maybe 3 other people, including Savage and his photographer sharing a few inside jokes, while posing for a few candid shots of himself.
If my jaw wasn’t dropping, my mind felt as if it should be.
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After this event and over the next week, I was deeply challenged by my thoughts and trying to resolve a sense of hero worship and a need for guidance seeking direction in life. It was through a brief email correspondence with Michael Savage and what surprisingly what came through to me on through his thoughts voiced across the air on his radio broadcast that would initiate another important change the direction of my life.
In my next post, I will attempt to describe to you that transition.
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Maybe you see a little of yourself in this little vignette. Feeling like you are part of a multitude and yet desiring the privileged to have the ear and the private audience with a person of greatness and who you feel an affinity and core connection with. Yes, I know, this is pregnant with spiritual connotations and we’ll see how I manage to navigate this human drama in my public writing.
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7:09 first draft
7:56 second proof
8:09 Final proof, Tagged, publish
I’ll see you… on the next page
Challen Yee