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.