When I was a child in the 70s, I used to help my dad with hay bailing during the summer. I always carried a little transistor radio with me…
At noon, I’d take a break for lunch and park the tractor under a tree for some shade, eat my meal, and listen to Paul Harvey. Hearing his voice now brings back memories of warm summers when my parents, brother, grandmothers, aunts and uncles were all alive and doing well. My heart longs for those days.
From 1952 until 2008, Paul Harvey’s voice reached up to 24 million people each week. The “Paul Harvey News” was broadcasted on 1,200 radio stations along with 400 American Forces Network stations and appeared in about 300 newspapers. Many people are most familiar with his famous segment “The Rest of the Story.”
America discovered a gem in Paul Harvey. Generations tuned in not just for his tales and insights but also for the soothing effect of his comforting and recognizable voice which transported you elsewhere for moments at a time—challenging your thoughts or maybe even changing them forever.
This man could teach you so much about life if you simply listened. I miss those days; those times of reflection and deep thinking. Sometimes I wonder if we as individuals do enough of that these days.
Before he began his television career though, Paul Harvey wrote an essay that he revised many times over the years. It’s quite controversial; you can interpret it however you wish: symbolically or literally—it holds truth either way.
In this audio clip below you’ll hear Paul Harvey read the version from 1996! It’s wild how accurate some of his “predictions” turned out to be.
