Being that Saturday was the 31st anniversary of the birth of Colin Offenbacker, it only feels fitting that he is the focal point of this piece. Many of you have probably heard on the podcast or other places how Colin and I “found each other” for lack of a better term so I don’t need to explain it here. Three years ago we were just two guys trying to make it through a work week by having engaging conversations. Now? He’s one of my best friends.
For many many reasons I would not be able to do what I’m doing without him. I rely on Offie for a lot of different things. For the last three months we have only recorded at Colin’s house, except for special occasions, so right off the bat he saves me the hassle of always having my dinning room clean. He has set up an amazing set for us that in my opinion does a great amount to legitimize our very much amateur operation. He also does all of the editing of both the audio and video versions of the cast and learned to do so after I didn’t want to. He is always providing me with information I don’t have regardless of how much research I have done, consistently challenges my ideas and makes me reconsider my position and how well I can defend it.
I can honestly say that Colin is one of maybe four people that could even begin to get a handle on my increasingly unpredictable stances on the matters of life. It’s that simple fact that lead us to choose him and his wife as god parents to our child. As different as Offie and I are as people whether it be how we were raised or what we have done with our lives up to this point, I couldn’t feel any more certain that were something to happen to Jordyn and I (God forbid) that Colin and Carolina would be willing and able to help instill in my child the same morals, ethics and value in critical and free thinking that I believe is so incredibly vital to survive and thrive in this country.
I have different friends for different things; My best friend in the world, Trent’n is my all purpose best friend forever. Colin is my best friend that has conversations with me that I don’t have with anyone else I know. I share information with everyone that I know, but Colin is the only person that I share conversations like this with. He is the only person I know besides my own therapist with who I can discuss topics that few others are able to look at objectively enough to not be offended. The views that Colin has almost always end up in the same place as mine, but for very very different reasons. The first person I go to when I think I may be looking at an issue wrong is always Colin.
At the risk of sounding incredibly big-headed, I see in Colin the rare but, in my opinion, vitally important qualities I see in myself and look for in other people when deciding my own opinion of them. How honest are they? How open minded? How willing is the person to take an objective look at the topic we are discussing and possibly be persuaded the other way? It is qualities like these that I feel will be necessary for America to come out clean on the other end of this period of destructive political strife and partisanship. These things are unusual enough that when a large enough group of public figures with those qualities were identified they were labeled “The Intellectual Dark-Web”.
It’s these things that I identify in Colin and credit him greatly with bringing them out in me. The same things that made us choose him for the Godfather of our child and that we are trying to share with the world around us through Salt of the Streets. Happy Birthday, buddy.
– Donavan
saltofthestreets.com 