I'm watching Dick Clark hosting a bit of his annual Rockin' New Year's Eve Special on ABC…his first real public appearance since his stroke a little more than a year ago. As I start writing this, I'm a little puzzled as to how to react.
I could feel sad. I worked with Dick a few times — I wrote on a series he produced and later, he hosted a special I produced — and I liked him a lot. Actually, I liked him before that from years of watching American Bandstand and various game shows. He was all energy with a great sense of humor, and it's heartbreaking to see him with slurred speech, struggling (but succeeding) to get his dialogue out.
Or I could feel happy. The rumor mill, including word from a friend who saw him last March, suggested he might not make it to New Year's Eve, let alone be well enough to return to work. But there he is, not letting a little thing like partial paralysis stop him from doing what he's always done so well. There's something inspirational there. This has been a year where a lot of people had to claw their way back from disasters, big and small. Dick isn't doing the show tonight because he needs the money. He already has all the money. He's doing it to tell the world, "Hey, I'm not dead and I'm coming back."
And looking at it that way, I'm deciding I'll feel happy about it. Welcome back, Dick. May we all have that kind of strength in '06 and not let anything stop us.