It's too bad that so many Americans and reporters exhausted themselves during the recent Michael Jackson media "orgy." They're probably too tired to report on and read or care about the passing of a far greater man who influenced the lives of everyday Americans in so many ways.
Or perhaps they just don't get "it," what we've lost in THIS man, a real person worthy of our attention at his passing … to look at ourselves in the mirror.
Walter Cronkite was the symbol of the evening TV news of yesterday, a figure we trusted to tell us the truth. The truth, even if it wasn't pretty. The truth, even if wasn't glamorous. The truth, what we needed to make informed decisions about our destiny as individuals and as a nation. The truth … lacking more and more in the entertainment news many Americans consume as the extent of "news" they need to be informed citizens.
Walter Cronkite was the journalist I wanted to be, not Woodward and Bernstein for their Watergate reporting. He was synonymous with truth, integrity, accuracy, fairness, professionalism.
He was real. He was a man who exhibited character traits we should encourage our children, our young people to study and commit to heart … not song lyrics or dance steps.
We are probably not shocked by Walter Cronkite's passing as he was in his 90s and lived a long and amazing life. However, we should mourn that there will never be a father-figure like him again that encourages and impresses upon us the need to pay attention to the REAL news of our communities and our world, and to assume the responsibility to think for ourselves.
Yes, we've lost a far, far greater man … at the time our world needs so many more like him.
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