Christina Aguilera's National Anthem at Superbowl XLV

If I have the date right, it was on October 29, 1993, that I heard Stephen King on National Public Radio speaking as a guest for the National Press Club. Not surprisingly, King turned out to be a good speaker, so before I knew it I was listening with interest.

Somewhere around the mid-point of his talk he began recalling an event from earlier in his life, which he later recognized as a pivotal moment in his writing career – the point at which he first accepted the possibility that he may be typed as a horror writer. What was just as interesting is what he went on to say about that moment – not necessarily about becoming a horror writer, but how he viewed the moment itself. Hopefully, I'll get close to what he said:

There are times that come in a person's life that are watershed moments, which come and go fairly quickly, but change everything after them. In most cases we don't realize it when they happen. They come and go with the same kind of humdrum quality as the rest of our lives, and it is only later that we recognize them for what they were.

I've had a few of those, as I suspect you have too. When I was a teenager, I overheard my dad talking with my mom about something that happened to him at work one day. He was a plumber, and while working on a job a supervisor told him to slow down, presumably, so the company could charge the customer for more time. My dad's response was, “I've got one speed.”

That statement impacted my life more than an awful lot of Sunday School lessons ever did. I didn't realize it at the time, of course, I just chewed on it for a while – I guess I still am.

Another one happened at a basketball game during my senior year in high school. Back then, I played saxophone in the school's pep band, which performed at most of the home games. A balcony tucked conveniently behind one of the basketball goals made a perfect place for our small group to play.

One evening our team was getting trounced. So, part way through the first half one of the band members found a newspaper, and each of us took a section out of it and lined up along the front of the balcony, papers open, to show that we weren't happy with our team. My band teacher was a wise man. He didn't get onto us, he simply came over and said, “Just remember this when people start doing it to you.”

Those words found their mark much faster than a berating ever could have. In seconds, the papers were gone.

So, now we have Christina Aguilera, who missed some words while singing the national anthem at Superbowl XLV. Yes, it's news worthy. What has surprised me, though, is how many harsh comments I've heard about it.

The same thing always comes to mind when I hear people overreact to things like this: We're all just one mistake away from being the next person in their crosshairs. If they'll attack another person for an honest mistake, they'll do it to me, and they'll do it to you.