Advocate
It is ironic sometimes how
things work out - or don’t work
out. I think sometimes you just
have to be careful what you say,
and probably how often you say
it too.
Take Jerome for instance. Now,
from all we could find out, here
was one rather dedicated man. He
believed in what he was saying
and doing and in his earnest
effort, he did a lot of good.
You may not remember Jerome, but
he changed a lot of lives. A
native New Yorker and son of a
local neighborhood grocer,
Jerome developed, and maintained
throughout his life, an intense
interest in promoting a healthy
and active lifestyle. His main
thrust, organically grown foods,
actually came from his reading
the works of a Mr. Albert
Howard.
Evidently once Jerome was
convinced of something, he was
kind of like a bulldog. He sank
his teeth into it, and really
went whole hog. As one of the
first advocates for organic
farming in the U.S., he
frequently wrote articles, made
speeches, and with his wife even
started their own 60-acre farm.
During World War II, it was
Jerome who discovered that much
of American soil had been
overfarmed and was suffering
severe nitrogen depletion. And
as you know, nitrogen injection
into our soil has since
increased our crop production
tenfold.
But it was his writing and
belief in organic farming that
really got things going. He
started the Rodale Press in
Emmaus, Pennsylvania and
published such well known
magazines as Organic Gardening,
which was the most -read
gardening periodical worldwide.
And another you may have heard
of, Prevention Magazine.
To Jerome, issues of agriculture
and health were just
inseparable. Healthy soil
required the use of compost, and
the avoidance of pesticides and
artificial fertilizers. Eating
plants grown in such soil would
then help humans stay healthier.
He believed it and said so often
- maybe too often. You’ll
remember I said sometimes you
have to be careful where you say
it. You see, one of Jerome’s
most oft-quoted lines came back
to bite him, well, actually just
as he was saying it.
It’s a Little Known Fact that
Jerome Rodale was right in the
middle of an interview with
famed television host Dick
Cavett, on the Dick Cavett show,
when he once again repeated his
famous line, that he would “live
to be a hundred if he didn’t get
run over by some crazy taxi
driver or something.” And with
that, he slumped in his chair
and died on the spot of a heart
attack. Cavett, unaware of what
had just happened, said, “Gee,
are we boring you Mr. Rodale?”
Needless to say, the event
didn’t do much for the organic
health food advocates. Nothing
like having your famed head pass
on during a rant for health
foods. But, we do know that
Jerome Rodale did make an impact
on organic farming and many
other things too. And as you
might guess, one reason you
didn’t hear too much about this
somewhat tragic and embarrassing
incident is because this
particular episode of the Dick
Cavett show was never aired. |
ck Here to
nown Facts web site.
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