Is there anyone in the US (who watches TV news, reads a newspaper, or checks out Google News) that does not know that Tim Russert of NBC’s Meet the Press died yesterday? I was not a regular viewer of Meet the Press but I always enjoyed Russert’s hardhitting interviews when I would see them from time to time. I especially enjoyed his well-known admiration for his father that was clearly evidenced in his NY times bestseller, Big Russ and Me.
Russert was clearly a man of faith, a strong family man and someone who was "tough but fair" as John McCain said about him yesterday. He was the first of his family to attend college and was the product of the working man values instilled in him by his father who supported and educated his children after service in WW II as a sanitation worker and a truck driver.
Russert was 58 years old. I suppose that is one reason why his death has moved me so much, because he was just a few months younger than I am. He was a man at "the top of his profession" as McCain said. He was involved in the news story of his life, the 2008 presidential campaign and election. He collapsed at work doing the thing that he loved to do.
A few years ago the Tim McGraw song, Live Like You Are Dying was on an endless loop on my ipod. I was struck with the realization of my own mortality. The realization moved me to make choices to fashion a life that was more in line with the idea that our days are numbered. Of course, people, young and old, die every day. Some have made a big ripple in this pond we live in, some have not. I guess what is more important for me, at this stage of my life, is that I live each day in a state of contentment. That I appreciate the daily blessings I receive and that I pass them to those around me.
Charlie Wear's Notes 
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