"Your call is important to me..."

"Your call is important to me..."

If you were to call my office when I'm not in and you left me a voice mail message, you'd hear something like this:

"Hi, you've reached my voice mail and here is how it works. If you a customer or a business associate with whom I already have a relationship, please leave me a detailed message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. If you are a sales person and we have no prior relationship, leave me a detailed message and if I'm interested I'll get back to you. If I'm not interested you won't hear from me. Its nothing personal. I just can't respond to everyone who wants to sell me something."

You wouldn't believe how many people leave messages telling me how refreshing it is to hear someone actually tell the truth about how their messages will be handled. (Not 'Your call is very important to me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.')

I was thinking of that today because twice in the last two days I picked up and actually read the USA Today that was left outside my hotel room door in the middle of the night.

Some of my friends have been shaking their heads in dismay that I've been on a quasi sabbatical from 'the news' for nearly the last year. It started right after my retreat last summer when I felt the news really wasn't, well, that important. OK. I admit, I'm sticking my head in the sand. But really. Here is what I know that was true then and is true today:

• Where in a hell of a mess in Iraq.
• It is going to get worse before it gets better.
• A lot of people are dying and it is senseless.
• Things are getting worse in Palestine.
• Our president is clueless.
• His administration is corrupt.

I'm sure I missed a lot of things, but in the nearly 12 months since I read a newspaper cover to cover these really important things haven't changed. (Not withstanding, I couldn't help pumping my fist ("YES!") when I heard the judge turned down Scooter's request to stay out of jail until his appeal was heard.)

One thing that I noticed has changed is that after nearly a year off, I believe very little of what I read. If a story quotes some study, I want to know who paid for it. If it quotes some government bureaucrat, I raise my eyebrows. If it quotes someone in the bush administration, I roll my eyes.

The other night I stayed in a Doubletree, which is part of the Hyatt chain. I've stayed in lots of hyatts over the years, and some time ago they started posting a little sign in the rooms that talks about how important it is to protect the environment and how each of us can do our part by, if we're staying more than one night, hanging our towels up. "Towel on the rack means I'll use it again. Towel on the floor means give me a clean one." Except they say it in some cute litte rhyme. In all the times I've stayed at a Hyatt, I've ALWAYS been given a new towel.

So pardon my skepticism: I think their signs are a bunch of crap designed to enhance their corporate image. Can anyone give me evidence to the contrary?

I'm well aware that I'm just as capable as the next guy of lying to myself and to others. But in my voice mail message I've taken a stand that truth matters, even if it is something as innocuous as whether I'll return your call.

And I'm still not sure if I'm going to renew my newspaper subscription.