"In Honor of Father's Day: Remembering Tim Russert"

Hi Everyone and especially to all of the Fathers of the world:

As your Father’s day comes to a close wherever you may be, I thought I would honor the day through remembering a father in particular who was perhaps a father in more ways than he realized.

The tragic news of hearing of the passing of MSNBC’s beloved star of Meet the Press, Tim Russert, deeply moved me, in fact to tears. It was hard to capture the rationale behind how or explain why I felt so deeply about his loss until I dug a little deeper. It’s as if I didn’t have to personally know or meet him to cry about his passing. He was just someone who you knew was a good person because his presence seemed to shine through the television screen. The smile he brought with his prosecutorial-like cross-examination questions to politicians on both sides of the spectrum had the paradoxical effect of being both intimidating yet sweet, akin to what some might call, “a velvet hammer.” I saw him as one of those journalists who brought joy and enthusiasm to his profession by seeking ultimately what was important —“truth” but always with a smile.

As someone who has only more recently become engaged in politics, I felt that since January of this year in our family’s ritualistic nightly viewings of the tumultuous and exciting Democratic primary season on the local networks, Tim was a fixture in “our family’s living room,” as he was to many others across the country.

While TV is often considered an addictive, distracting, passive mode of entertainment, for some reason, this guy seemed to turn all that around as he livened up the television set, (and in turn enlivened the viewers as well) through the probing questions he asked to his guests who came on his show and took “the witness stand.” His dedication to sticking to the facts, the proof , (the truth), combined with his demeanor as a chubby-cheeked, middle-aged, home-town, father, with a sharp wit and a constant grin, made him lovable and endearing or as the “Meet the Press” crew called him, “beloved.”

On the night of June 3, 2008, when Barack Obama clinched the Democratic Nomination for President, I noticed that while many of the news anchors were excited to announce that Barack Obama had won, Tim, for some reason stood apart from the rest. In fact, he was glowing with happiness that day saying that he was so excited to be a part of this primary season in politics that it made him feel almost compelled to go to classrooms and teach children about how history was being made in politics in that moment. You could just feel the sincerity of his presence. It was almost as if, (and I said this that day to my nephew), that, “this man is so happy right now, I think he might just jump out of the television screen.”

I was so crushed to hear during my lunch break on Friday, June, 13, 2008, that Tim had tragically died due to heart failure and when I started to connect with others about it, I began to see how this wave of empathy for the loss swept across many of our hearts which opened up to the moment as it gripped our country. I began to understand more clearly that this man affected us more acutely because while he made a great contribution to our lives through his work, I think he affected us even more through the way he treated others. He was perhaps one of the few journalists who did not personally attack those who held differing views from his own and he even willingly went on Fox News to be interviewed by the often criticized “Bill O’Reilly” and “Hannity & Colmes!!

Having been so impacted by the loss of this inspirational figure, I even briefly spoke about it with my bar exam instructor, who left me with two positive remarks which I thought were profound. He said that “he raised a wonderful son” and that “those who have passed on are still teaching us. They are still here teaching us, just not in the same form---not through the same dimension.”

To many of us, Tim was the “Father of Meet the Press,” but as I just recently learned, he was first and foremost, the Father to his son Luke who just graduated from Boston College and despite the passion for politics this man imparted to us all, he cared most deeply for his family first. He seemed to be so grateful for the values of what his own father taught him about working hard, having discipline, following his dreams, and doing what he could to make sure his son received an education, namely working two jobs, (one of which included the humbling role of a garbage collector.)

As ironic as it may seem that I genuinely cried for what some might say was a “television personality,” or someone who I didn’t really know, I would say that I didn’t just see him as just another figure on television casting news, because to me, he wasn’t a personality. He was a person. To me, he was real---and that’s personal.

I will leave all of you with this touching and inspirational clip that captures Father’s Day through Tim’s words as they can again enliven us all, and this time, speaking not about his understanding of politics, but rather his understanding of the unconditional love of a father.

I wish you all a very Happy Father’s Day!

With Love,
~Mitu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwy-c2um5ZI