A few years ago, I got a very formal-looking letter from Marquis Who’s Who, the publishers of the famous directories of prominent people.
They were considering me for inclusion in Who’s Who in America, the letter said, and they sent along a little questionnaire to help fill out my biographical details.
“They must have the wrong guy,” I thought. But I do have an elevated opinion of myself, so for a while I wracked my brain, trying to think just what I had done to merit consideration for Who’s Who. I had a pretty good job, high enough in the pecking order that my boss’s boss would surely have been in Who’s Who. But me? I just couldn’t see it.
Near the end of the letter, Marquis explained how I could buy my own copy of Who’s Who in America. (I had been freeloading for years, using the library’s copy.) The price might have been chump change to a prominent person, but I certainly wasn’t prominent enough. “Oh, I get it,” I said. “It’s a profit deal!”
I was reminded of this when I learned that I have been named TIME magazine’s “Person of the Year.” I’ll bet you’re jealous, huh?
It’s a great honor, of course, but it’s not going to make me buy the magazine. Not when I can just go down to the library and make photocopies.
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