Today Is The Yesterday of Tomorrow
A legend has died. People around us die everyday, but there are those among us who seem to have become part of our families. Peter Jennings was one such person. Regardless of what you thought about him and felt about his reporting at ABC, he became a household face in many of our living rooms over the past 22 years along with Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. Just the mention of these names brings a flood of memories to most Americans.
I was deeply moved when I heard of his passing. It wasn’t that I knew him, or loved him, but it was because he represented to me a lot of memories. If you recall, I am big on memories. Whether it was the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tiananmen Square, Beirut, or the terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympics, you can’t help but associate the name Peter Jennings with those events. He became a part of your history, too.
In his passing, we are reminded not only of his past accomplishments, but of our own. To see a man who achieved so much, even though a high school dropout, makes us compare our lives, not to his, but to what ours could have been like. We are reminded that today will become the yesterday of tomorrow. If we are ashamed or disappointed in our lack of commitment, achievement or significance, we can receive comfort in the fact that we can change how we will feel about our past ten years from now by determining to do better today. If for no other reason, I am thankful today that I am again reminded that I can change my future.
His death also reminds us of our mortality. None of us will live forever on this earth. Whether we are the homeless wino on the streets of Brooklyn or Princess Diana, we all have an appointment with the grim reaper. We can’t help but reflect on what comes next for each of us. It is a question of massive proportions and we would be remiss if we didn’t seriously consider it.
Peter Jennings died at a relatively young age considering that a contemporary of his, David Brinkley, was 82 when he passed away. If you were watching the broadcast when he spoke of his children calling him on that fateful day of September 11, or of his announcement of his having lung cancer a few months ago, then you got a personal glimpse of the man behind the desk. At that point, I am sure he wished that he could have undone the past and had stopped smoking a long time ago. But it was too late. The damage had been done.
Perhaps this would be a good time for us to ask ourselves what is in our lives that is slowly destroying us and stealing the years we have left. It isn’t always the things we do that harm us and steal our peace and joy. Sometimes it is the things we don’t do. Today, you have your chance to make a difference in your life and the lives of those around you. Don’t throw away that opportunity.
I was deeply moved when I heard of his passing. It wasn’t that I knew him, or loved him, but it was because he represented to me a lot of memories. If you recall, I am big on memories. Whether it was the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tiananmen Square, Beirut, or the terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympics, you can’t help but associate the name Peter Jennings with those events. He became a part of your history, too.
In his passing, we are reminded not only of his past accomplishments, but of our own. To see a man who achieved so much, even though a high school dropout, makes us compare our lives, not to his, but to what ours could have been like. We are reminded that today will become the yesterday of tomorrow. If we are ashamed or disappointed in our lack of commitment, achievement or significance, we can receive comfort in the fact that we can change how we will feel about our past ten years from now by determining to do better today. If for no other reason, I am thankful today that I am again reminded that I can change my future.
His death also reminds us of our mortality. None of us will live forever on this earth. Whether we are the homeless wino on the streets of Brooklyn or Princess Diana, we all have an appointment with the grim reaper. We can’t help but reflect on what comes next for each of us. It is a question of massive proportions and we would be remiss if we didn’t seriously consider it.
Peter Jennings died at a relatively young age considering that a contemporary of his, David Brinkley, was 82 when he passed away. If you were watching the broadcast when he spoke of his children calling him on that fateful day of September 11, or of his announcement of his having lung cancer a few months ago, then you got a personal glimpse of the man behind the desk. At that point, I am sure he wished that he could have undone the past and had stopped smoking a long time ago. But it was too late. The damage had been done.
Perhaps this would be a good time for us to ask ourselves what is in our lives that is slowly destroying us and stealing the years we have left. It isn’t always the things we do that harm us and steal our peace and joy. Sometimes it is the things we don’t do. Today, you have your chance to make a difference in your life and the lives of those around you. Don’t throw away that opportunity.
posted by GrandFather at 12:01 PM
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