Like the death of anyone we admire and love, the loss of Tim Russert is not getting any easier with time...
We've purposely stayed away from 'Meet the Press' for the month since his death because we couldn't bear his absence. Last week we tuned in and had to shut the TV off. The lack of respect for Former Vice President Al Gore was apparent. (Brokaw spoke over him, wouldn't let him finish sentances, and offered opinions rather than drawing out facts and details.) What a shame...I guess no one COULD do is as well as Tim, anyway. But damn it, I REALLY, REALLY miss him!
Personally, it hasn't been since the 9/11 Tragedy that I've felt so affected by death. It shocks me to realize that I'll be sitting somewhere waiting at a traffic light, or in line somewhere, and find that I'm thinking about Tim Russert. I find myself ruminating about how full his life seemed and how amazingly unfair it is that he's gone in the apparent prime of his life. It vexes me, like other unponderable questions such as, 'How is it possible for stupid people to become wealthy?' and "Why should anyone vote in this upcoming election when only the Electoral College votes count?" (I plan on doing a full blog entry on just this topic alone in a short time!)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Nothing could have stunned me more than the shockingly unexpected death on Friday, June 13th of Tim Russert, best known for being the moderator of 'Meet the Press'.
Even though I never had the privilege of meeting him in person, our family, like millions of other families, watched Tim Russert every Sunday to get the only unbiased, objective political news on television. He became thought of by us as a trusted friend, someone who had access to politicians and newsmakers and wasn't afraid to ask the questions we, as common citizens, wanted the answers to. He was our big brother, our favorite teacher, our sports buddy, and loyal standard bearer of Truth.
Tim Russert challenges us all to live to a higher standard by the simple example of his passion for life, family, politics, sports, his faith, his hometown and our country.
It is easy to be cynical about politics and our country's politicians. It is much harder to work diligently and hold ourselves and everyone we deal with to a standard of accountability. He literally LOVED life! How many of us have the guts to do that? Most people are too interested in how they look to other people, rather than making sure they are bringing their 'A' game to each morning they are fortunate enough to wake up.
Russert's untimely and unexpected death is a call to all of us to honestly show our love for the people in our lives and to be brave enough to enthusiastically embrace the lives we've chosen to live - and to change that life if it doesn't suit you, no matter how it looks to others.
Have the courage to find something in your life that you love to do and challenge yourself to put your whole heart and soul into it. This requires great consideration, as anything worth doing will be something that moves you deeply. Do something that you can believe in. Don't do it for any other reason than because you desire it.
How many of us say we'll do what we want when (fill in the timeframe) I retire, my kids go away to college, when my kids get out of college, I get a divorce... you name it. We don't have to wait for that great 'someday'. We can choose to do our passion even in the midst of work. Get up one hour earlier or go to bed one hour later and fit in an hour of whatever makes you passionate each day, just one hour! But make sure if you do it, that you put yourself wholly into it, don't cheat. Challange yourself the do that thing to the best of your ability, eventually, it will show. And even if it doesn't, YOU'LL know.
Most of us don't do enough for ourselves in this country. We do for everyone else, as did Russert, but it has been speculated that it will take 5 people to take his place! It is clear he neglected his health, he was bloated and had been struggling with his weight. He was known for being the first one in the office in the morning (6am) and the last one to leave in the evening. He also was renown for only getting a few precious hours of sleep a night. It was also clear that Tim loved his family and would do anything for them. But it is a shame that he didn't do more to honor himself in the process by taking better care of his own well-being.
May we all have the integrity of Tim Russert, by being an example, by just living life, as authentically as we can. If that happened, I'm sure that it would make Tim exceedingly happy to know his life's quiet, steady influence helped to make America a better place to live.
Even though I never had the privilege of meeting him in person, our family, like millions of other families, watched Tim Russert every Sunday to get the only unbiased, objective political news on television. He became thought of by us as a trusted friend, someone who had access to politicians and newsmakers and wasn't afraid to ask the questions we, as common citizens, wanted the answers to. He was our big brother, our favorite teacher, our sports buddy, and loyal standard bearer of Truth.
Tim Russert challenges us all to live to a higher standard by the simple example of his passion for life, family, politics, sports, his faith, his hometown and our country.
It is easy to be cynical about politics and our country's politicians. It is much harder to work diligently and hold ourselves and everyone we deal with to a standard of accountability. He literally LOVED life! How many of us have the guts to do that? Most people are too interested in how they look to other people, rather than making sure they are bringing their 'A' game to each morning they are fortunate enough to wake up.
Russert's untimely and unexpected death is a call to all of us to honestly show our love for the people in our lives and to be brave enough to enthusiastically embrace the lives we've chosen to live - and to change that life if it doesn't suit you, no matter how it looks to others.
Have the courage to find something in your life that you love to do and challenge yourself to put your whole heart and soul into it. This requires great consideration, as anything worth doing will be something that moves you deeply. Do something that you can believe in. Don't do it for any other reason than because you desire it.
How many of us say we'll do what we want when (fill in the timeframe) I retire, my kids go away to college, when my kids get out of college, I get a divorce... you name it. We don't have to wait for that great 'someday'. We can choose to do our passion even in the midst of work. Get up one hour earlier or go to bed one hour later and fit in an hour of whatever makes you passionate each day, just one hour! But make sure if you do it, that you put yourself wholly into it, don't cheat. Challange yourself the do that thing to the best of your ability, eventually, it will show. And even if it doesn't, YOU'LL know.
Most of us don't do enough for ourselves in this country. We do for everyone else, as did Russert, but it has been speculated that it will take 5 people to take his place! It is clear he neglected his health, he was bloated and had been struggling with his weight. He was known for being the first one in the office in the morning (6am) and the last one to leave in the evening. He also was renown for only getting a few precious hours of sleep a night. It was also clear that Tim loved his family and would do anything for them. But it is a shame that he didn't do more to honor himself in the process by taking better care of his own well-being.
May we all have the integrity of Tim Russert, by being an example, by just living life, as authentically as we can. If that happened, I'm sure that it would make Tim exceedingly happy to know his life's quiet, steady influence helped to make America a better place to live.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Traveling in Pittsburgh, PA today. Yesterday, we went into the city to perhaps take in a museum or other worthwhile cultural attraction, but to no avail. Being a 'transplant' to the West, I'd forgotten how seriously folks take Easter on the East Coast. Everything was closed!!!! Back home, that wouldn't be the case. If it makes money, it stays open, period. What do you want from heathens like us anyway?
Spent some time watching the news this morning and they announced that we reached the 4,000 American death in Iraq. Fortunately, one of the commentators had the good grace to mention that that figure is a mere fraction of the Iraqi deaths since the war started 5 years ago. The toll is wide ranging, some say as little (?) as over 100,000 while on the high side, as many as 800,000 to 900,000 may have died!
This all got me to wondering about how the perceptions of the American people have changed along with the death count. Back when I was regularly posting to this blog, it actually felt, at one point that I was living in an alien land. I didn't recognize my own fellow Americans due to the extreme rhetoric being thrown about concerning the reasons we were in Iraq. How we as Americans could have swallowed the line that Iraq was responsible for 9/11 is beyond me. I talked to, previously rational people, who changed into warmongering, anger ridden human beings, when anyone would even suggest that we shouldn't have invaded Iraq! We had to go to news sources like the BBC and the Canadian Broadcast stations to get any real news at the time, because the American news stations were putting out severely biased positions instead of 'news'.
Recently I watched an episode of 'Iconoclasts' featuring Rene Zellweger on Christine Amanpour. They discussed the issue that today's reporters don't report the unbiased news but rather they focus on what is popular with their audiance. It is a matter of the tail wagging the dog, in any case and Amanpour denounced the practice severely. She has always attempted to bring stories to light that were not being covered by other stations, although, in my opinion, she is as guilty of a biased slant as any other reporter. Still she has more integrity and I suppose it can't be easy to cover something like the conflicts in Bosnia or the Sudan and not develop a strong feeling over what is occuring in the region.
Well, it seems that the American people have finally had enough of the lies and deceit which got us into this war to begin with. They ar looking at their own troubles at home and realizing that making enemies abroad certainly won't help our economy. What a terrible price we've had to pay for what should have been obvious to begin with. This shell game with Afghanistan actually worked for the Bush Administration. It has had terrible reprocussions for the common man however. So, today, we are looking for a political saviour to get us out of this mess - get our troops out of Iraq, bring oil prices down, protect our environment and bring our economy back into a strong, safe position again.
No, for me, the jury is still out as to who will be the best candidate for President - whoever it is, it will take a lot longer than 4 years to accomplish even a fraction of what's needed to be done. Honestly, I'm not sure that any of the candidates is really right for the job. The only thing I'm sure of is whoever it is, they have to be better than the bunch we have in the Administration now.
For now, I'm content to see that my fellow Americans have come to their senses again. That independent streak of scepticism that founded this country hasn't died, its just been asleep in most of us. When you start messing with our pocketbooks we, as a nation, tend to stand up and take notice.
Spent some time watching the news this morning and they announced that we reached the 4,000 American death in Iraq. Fortunately, one of the commentators had the good grace to mention that that figure is a mere fraction of the Iraqi deaths since the war started 5 years ago. The toll is wide ranging, some say as little (?) as over 100,000 while on the high side, as many as 800,000 to 900,000 may have died!
This all got me to wondering about how the perceptions of the American people have changed along with the death count. Back when I was regularly posting to this blog, it actually felt, at one point that I was living in an alien land. I didn't recognize my own fellow Americans due to the extreme rhetoric being thrown about concerning the reasons we were in Iraq. How we as Americans could have swallowed the line that Iraq was responsible for 9/11 is beyond me. I talked to, previously rational people, who changed into warmongering, anger ridden human beings, when anyone would even suggest that we shouldn't have invaded Iraq! We had to go to news sources like the BBC and the Canadian Broadcast stations to get any real news at the time, because the American news stations were putting out severely biased positions instead of 'news'.
Recently I watched an episode of 'Iconoclasts' featuring Rene Zellweger on Christine Amanpour. They discussed the issue that today's reporters don't report the unbiased news but rather they focus on what is popular with their audiance. It is a matter of the tail wagging the dog, in any case and Amanpour denounced the practice severely. She has always attempted to bring stories to light that were not being covered by other stations, although, in my opinion, she is as guilty of a biased slant as any other reporter. Still she has more integrity and I suppose it can't be easy to cover something like the conflicts in Bosnia or the Sudan and not develop a strong feeling over what is occuring in the region.
Well, it seems that the American people have finally had enough of the lies and deceit which got us into this war to begin with. They ar looking at their own troubles at home and realizing that making enemies abroad certainly won't help our economy. What a terrible price we've had to pay for what should have been obvious to begin with. This shell game with Afghanistan actually worked for the Bush Administration. It has had terrible reprocussions for the common man however. So, today, we are looking for a political saviour to get us out of this mess - get our troops out of Iraq, bring oil prices down, protect our environment and bring our economy back into a strong, safe position again.
No, for me, the jury is still out as to who will be the best candidate for President - whoever it is, it will take a lot longer than 4 years to accomplish even a fraction of what's needed to be done. Honestly, I'm not sure that any of the candidates is really right for the job. The only thing I'm sure of is whoever it is, they have to be better than the bunch we have in the Administration now.
For now, I'm content to see that my fellow Americans have come to their senses again. That independent streak of scepticism that founded this country hasn't died, its just been asleep in most of us. When you start messing with our pocketbooks we, as a nation, tend to stand up and take notice.
Friday, March 14, 2008
This has been a week of productivity at work and some frustration.
Why is it that, especially in business, people have a tendency to become emotional? What we've noticed is that the ones that yell the loudest and longest are usually the one's who have something they feel guilty about.
Elliot Spitzer, for instance... usually not a good idea to beat your chest in a crusade against others when you've been squirelling away tens of thousands of dollars away in a Caymen island account, for whatever reason.
You know, we've all made mistakes but assigning blame usually doesn't do anything but cause someone to point a finger at you in return.
Why is it that, especially in business, people have a tendency to become emotional? What we've noticed is that the ones that yell the loudest and longest are usually the one's who have something they feel guilty about.
Elliot Spitzer, for instance... usually not a good idea to beat your chest in a crusade against others when you've been squirelling away tens of thousands of dollars away in a Caymen island account, for whatever reason.
You know, we've all made mistakes but assigning blame usually doesn't do anything but cause someone to point a finger at you in return.
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