You never know what you have until it's gone.  I've been a news junky for the better part of my life, a habit I picked up from my short stint with my father.  He only watched news, that's it.  He wouldn't watch anything else, so while under his roof the only thing I saw on television was news, and guys talking politics.

When you're a kid, somehow someway you pick up on authenticity.  I have a blurry memory of the day Tom Brokaw became the sole anchor of NBC Nightly News, but I do remember feeling like, okay, this is the guy to watch.  My memory of Tim Russert's maiden voyage is even less so, I just simply remember seeing him on the odd Sunday morning that MTv was playing video's I didn't want to see.

Gradually "Meet the Press" became one of those shows I would always check in on.  Tim Russert, for me simply came to be the guy who would "nail" someone, like David Duke, a show that's been talked about a lot in the last 24 hrs.  But if you didn't see it when it happened, it's hard to appreciate the impact it had.  David Duke was hated throughout the U.S., except in Louisiana where it looked as though he was about to become Governor.  To see Russert dismantle the man by asking one question, then allowing us to watch him fumble for the hammer and nail to seal his political campaign, was a thing of beauty.  It was also the moment Russert became a part of the family for the youth of my generation.  

As TV news gradually became the joke that it is today, Tim Russert on Meet the Press remained the stalwart journalist he always was.  He did not join in on the name calling, accusation, back and forth pompous bickering that is what news is today.  Instead, he became the face, that energy and that knowledge that would become a joy to watch each time he came on the screen.  His presence was called upon more and more, and each time he spoke from some little studio somewhere, it was extremely apparent that this guy was enjoying it.  He was the guy you wanted in your living room talking politics.

As I watched a puffy faced Olbermann, subdued Chuck Todd and crying Andrea Mitchell yesterday, among the long list of political names who grieved on national TV, I couldn't help but wonder why.  Why is it people like Tim are taken from us so early and so suddenly?  Tim did not spread hatred on the air.  Tim did not act as though he knew better and was better than the rest of us.  Tim didn't use the airwaves to threaten people he disagreed with, nor did he use the PROFESSION of journalism to promote one political party over the other, insisting that if you are not of his elk, you are a worthless American.  He didn't call for ideological boycotts of products, countries or individuals from behind the "News Desk," under the guise of "News."  He strove to make the world a more informed, tolerable place to live in, and he did it with a warm smile, civility and journalistic objectivity that is hallmark of time and character long gone from news, and television in general. 

This is not to say I believe the man was a saint.  By all accounts, his personal life was one to admire, but I didn't know him personally so I am not foolishly blanketing the man as the incarnation of God.  I am simply going on what I invited into my home on Sunday mornings, during Political campaigns and on the times when Tim appeared on someone's show to lend his thoughts to a topic.  Tim was a mans man, a man that I knew inviting him into my home would not subject me to ideological demonization.  A man that by the time he left my home, I would know and understand a bit more about the world around me. 

When it is said that the world and journalism now has a hole in it, it's not just a kind in-grief platitude, it's the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

 

Tim Russert was truly a great man, and he never claimed it.  He never swung his suit jacket with moral authority or sat back in his chair posturing indignant supremacy.  He was the last guy one would expect to have to write a piece like this about, and last one, one would want to.  Some people you just simply expect to be there, because you want them there, because you count on them.  Like one's father.  And when they are not, when they leave us, there is an unbalance that has long lasting effects.  We just lost a father, and the effects will be long lasting.

Peace be with you Tim, and thank you for being a part of my maturation. 

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