In Remembrance of Peter Jennings
Shortly after the late local news on Sunday, Charles Gibson broke in to report that Peter Jennings had lost his battle with lung cancer. He was 67 years old.
Although I had read that he was in poor health since leaving the network in April, it had never occurred to me that he might die. For some reason, it often seems as though people no longer die from cancer. And yet, even as I write this, thousands more will have succumbed to some form of the disease.
From election coverage, to special reports, to the nightly newscast, I’ve watched Peter Jennings most of my life. He was a calm father figure, and the steady, reassuring way that he reported the news made sense to me. I trusted him. When 9/11 happened, it was his face that I wanted to see that night on television, and it was his voice that helped me to understand what had happened.
Charlie Gibson said tonight that Mr. Jennings was a “graceful, elegant man”, and he most certainly was. His passing only reminds me that the world I’ve always known will fade further away as I journey towards the inevitable. And one day, these men that I’ve come to depend on will be replaced by me, and you, and others like us. I only hope that we are worthy of their legacy.
Moderation: The older posts on Second Negative are protected by a comment moderation queue. If you leave a comment I'll need to manually approve it, but after that it will be published above. So comment away.
