Donald Murray (not murphy, sorry don) defined surprise not in terms of everyone, but through the eyes of a journalist. Surprise and being ready to be surprised as Murray describes it seems to be more about the diligent perception of a journalist. Surprise, to me, insinuates shock, excitement, awe-- all that jazz. Combined with Murray's ideas, a good conclusive definition for surprise in terms of journalism would be as follows: A journalist should be open and perceptive to new and exciting things, be ready to learn and explore at the drop of a hat (there may be a story there), and always keep his or her eyes open to be ready to accept such surprising gifts.