The sudden passing of Tim Russert at the age of 58 last Friday hit me almost like losing a family member. During the past several months, as the Presidential Primary season wore on, his seemingly unending presence on TV became a constant part of my life. I always enjoyed his enthusiasm and expertise.
I wonder why the medical staff couldn't save him. He apparently was attended to by paramedics and was rushed to a hospital very shortly after he was stricken . The reports say he died from a plaque that broke loose in a coronary artery and lodged in his heart. Also, with his wealth, I'm sure that he received good preventive medical care before the fatal event. Yet, the condition persisted.
Besides the pain of loss, I was violently reminded of the reality of my own mortality. In the past, as a result of similar tragedies, usually I resolved to make some constructive action to better my life in some way. But, shortly thereafter, life returns to usual. Somehow, whatever resolve I had fades away. It sure is hard to change.
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While I was in college, I saw a TV interview with a woman who had just lost her 18-year old son in some freak accident. I thought, what a waste. His parents raised him all those years to be an independent man and then, boom, he's dead and it was all for nothing. But that assumes that a life is only worthwhile if something comes of it, if a person passes certain milestones. What about just living? The mother got to spend 18 years enjoying her son's company.
With the passing of Russert, you could think of what he lost out on, those years he won't be alive, or you could hope that the people in his life enjoyed their time with him while he was here.
I think that's the biggest challenge for me - to accept and enjoy the people in my life right now instead of thinking about the future and how great it will be when this or that happens.
My wife's response to Blyth's comment mirrors my thoughts too.
She said: "It's difficult to always live in the moment, but it's true that all we have is the present and everything we need is already here."
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