an icon passed

Last night I watched the special on Peter Jennings (Peter Jennings: Reporter). Wow…he really was an amazing journalist, anchor, and apparently writer – I’m going to have to look up his books when I’m done with John Adams. One of the folks speaking about him said Peter was the perfect person to cover the 9-11 attacks because he was always so stable. It struck me that he really lived up to his title as “anchor”. I remember watching him at times during the coverage and he was always calm and stable, even in the scariest moments, while the nation was trembling.

It struck a chord with me when they showed some footage of his time in the Middle East – specifically Jerusalem and Bethlehem. They spoke of how he would go out and find the simplest stories that had a broader and deeper meaning than just face value and how he would draw that out for the American public to see. I wish I had that talent…That was something I wanted to work on when I was in Israel last year but with the animosity I was getting from one person on the trip it made it a little difficult. Plus I just wasn’t as prepared as I should have been.

Joel always told me that if I wanted to be a writer I needed to write. I think I mentioned that once before on this blog way back when I started, but seeing the PJ special really brought it back. A goal for the fall perhaps…