Article: Tim Russert Remembered: Who saw telling the story as a duty to the American people

Tim Russert Remembered: Who saw telling the story as a duty to the American peopleBy Mary MacElveenJune 14, 2008 In hearing of the death of Tim Russert the Washington Bureau Chief of NBC News as well as the moderator of Meet the Press, I was stunned. Here was a fair and balanced journalist to us all gone forever. I think one of the reasons why I was so stunned was that I saw a parallel in his death to a death of a life-long friend whose name was also Tim. Both Tim Russert and my friend Tim died way before their time and were passionate family men. My friend Tim died at age fifty this past April just having turned it in March. In listening to the many that did work for Tim Russert at NBC, each relayed to all of us just how much he cared for all of them. The same can be said of my friend Tim who was in management at FedEx. After his funeral those who knew my friend Tim posted such wonderful thoughts on an online legacy web page. It was striking to read the similarities between my friend Tim and hear the ones expressed of Tim Russert. While Tim Russert leaves behind a wife Maureen and a son Luke, my friend left behind a wonderful wife who was his soul mate and two wonderful teenage boys. Both were larger than life, lived life to its fullest and both died unexpectedly of a heart attack. In times of sorrow especially when a good person dies, we always have that one simple question; why them? Not that we wish bad upon anyone else, but we still ask why. I think there is one simple answer to that question and it is this, so that we do know what good is in this chaotic world. It helps us distinguish who we want to be, while choosing who we do not want to be. Hopefully it makes us choose the right path over the one that should not be taken. The next generation of journalists should all aspire and desire to be a Tim Russert, a Peter Jennings, an Edward R. Murrow and the countless others who knew in their hearts that telling the story was a duty to their fellow Americans. They should pick the brains of those still with us such as Walter Cronkite, Mike Wallace and yes, Dan Rather. They should not desire to make the story about themselves as others have. They should have a certain sense of dignity instead of telling anyone to “shut up”. We as viewers and Americans should look to those who do their homework, are fair and balanced and never mean spirited. That will only make us better as human beings. As journalists like Tim Russert honed in on the answer we all needed to hear through his years of experience, style and a certain sense of eloquence that is the level of journalism we all deserve and must crave. We as Americans need to be nourished by the information gained by such journalists while rejecting the rest. We must see the latter as noise instead of news. I would mention names, but this is not the time to do so. We all know who they are. I do not know who NBC will choose to replace Tim Russert, but he or she will have some mighty big shoes to fill. I do not think you can really replace him, but whoever becomes the new moderator of Meet the Press must have the humility, integrity and honor to be welcomed into millions of American homes. We shall all be waiting with our hot cups of coffee ready to be informed by someone of Tim Russert’s stature. To NBC, choose wisely for the American people. In the meantime, my heartfelt prayers go out to his wife, Maureen Orth, his son Luke, his dad Timothy Joseph Russert and the many family and friends he leaves behind to grieve a lifetime. Perhaps this poem by Henry Scott Holland, Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral, London will help those who will weep in the days ahead. What ever we were to each other, that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference in your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we shared together. Let my name ever be the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of a shadow on it. Life means all that it ever meant.It is the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well. Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net