Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Saying Goodbye to Tim Russert




























Maria Shriver's Poem Reading To Russert
If Maria Shriver's reading of this poem during today's ceremony didn't move you, then, well, your heart's not beating:


The Little Ship

I stood watching as the little ship sailed out to sea. The setting sun tinted his white sails with a golden light, and as he disappeared from sight a voice at my side whispered, "He is gone".

But the sea was a narrow one. On the farther shore a little band of friends had gathered to watch and wait in happy expectation. Suddenly they caught sight of the tiny sail and, at the very moment when my companion had whispered, "He is gone" a glad shout went up in joyous welcome, "Here he comes!"

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

A beautiful tribute to a loving man. That is what is meant by humanity. And the poem brings tears to your eyes. And the rainbow as people came out of Kennedy Center..... was like God putting the finishing touches on a loving day..... saying "Well, done my humble son. Welcome Home.

Jim

Kevin said...

Thank you for posting the tribute. In this day and age of cable news programs that feature rude, obnoxious, agenda driven "journalism" Tim Russert was head and shoulders above everyone else. I would download the podcast of Meet the Press and listen to it on Sunday evening and I was never disappointed. Mr. Russert was certainly tough and unrelenting, but he also respected his guests and he never slanted his show to fit a certain agenda. If there was a story he was going to dig until he found it regardless of the politics behind it. RIP Tim, we were blessed to have been able to enjoy your work.

Lesa said...

Thank you, Jim. That was so beautiful. And, yes. The rainbow was magic. So perfect.

Lesa said...

Oh, Kevin.

I wish I'd been able to post everything. I've watched for five days, and some of the shows I watched three times over the weekend. He's a man I hated to lose. You just felt as if you knew him.

It's such a shame that we've lost the man who was always fair in his dealings with the politicians. He didn't yell at us. He asked the questions we wanted to. And, we trusted him to ask them.