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Personal from...
InWhichWorld AreYou?
1
HAO
just turned on television. Johnny
Carson was chitchatting with a "show-biz"
guest. Suddenly the thought flashed
through my mind, Who else, pray tell,
but
a "show-biz" person
could
Johnny interview?
Who else was of any importance or in terest to
the viewing public?
Johnny,
1
realized, must bave only JMPORTANT
people- CELEBRJTJ ES- on the show. Show business
is his world, and he could not be expected to
"descend to a lower leve
l."
1
began to think of how many different worlds exist
within this world on the planet Earth. And even smaller
subworlds within those worlds. We speak of the Free
World in contrast to the Communist World, the Arab
World and the Third World. Suddenly
1
was more
interested in this new train of thought than in Johnny's
show, and snapped off the television that 1 might
continue this line of thinking.
1t
began to become apparent that certain attributes are
shared in common by all these worlds. Vanity, for
example- a feeling of superiority over those outside one's
own little world, disdain toward other occupations, or
professions, or worlds.
Take show business. An actor or entertainer is in
THE
ONLY
world that counts! Al! others are beneath him---()r
her- and women often steal that show, anyhow. Show
business people have their own journals and publications,
just like other worlds. They speak their own language,
have their own terminology. They are all-knowledgeable
about their own world and its personalities, though they
may or may not know much or anything outside their
all-important world. That would be like knowing
something of the civilization on Mars. Why be concerned
about a world so far away?
There's
one
world in which all of us have
lived, prior to emerging into our present
world- the
TEEN
world. Sorne have never grown
out of it. The primary thing to know in that
world was simple- spelled in three
letters-F-U-N! Nothing else much counted. We
August 1982
had our own language, our own "shoptalk" or
slang. We didn't have much interest in anything
outside our teen world. We were much more
important than our elders, though a ll too often
they acted as if they knew more than we-but
we knew better, and listened more attentively to
the counsel and advice of our peers. Sorne of us
ultimately grew out of that world.
Then
1
thought of the Arab Wor ld . 1 was over in
that world quite recently. Many people in that
world know as much about the outside world as
they know of sorne world such as Jupiter or Saturo.
Of course they have their own Arabic language,
their own newspapers and publ ications, their own
culture. But to nearly all, except the leaders and
ed ucators, they are a world unto themselves.
The leaders, however, may be in the international
political world. They know, or know about, the
leaders of other nations. In a sense, political Jeaders
of all nations are also a world unto themselves.
1
have come into personal contact with many of them
on all continents. They are a sort of prívate club.
Then the world of higher education, or the
academic world, carne to mind. 1 first experienced
an inside look into this world in the autumn of
1947, when
1
founded Ambassador College. You
see, 1 had not gone to college or university. At age
18 1 had put myself through a self-analysis and
survey of professions, occupations and jobs to
determine where 1 belonged- to avoid fitting the
proverbial square peg into t he round hole. This
research indicated 1 belonged in adver tising and
journalism.
1
was advised by my wise Ben
Frankfin-minded Uncle Frank Armstrong, who
then was the leading advertising man in my state,
that no college or university had a course in
advertising or result-getting journalism worth the
time of day. Also that if I would apply myself,
STUDY diligently of nights, choose carefully the
texts to be studied, then
1
could acquire a better
education than in college. He had done so, and, in
those days, so had many bank presidents or board
chairmen in the greatest
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