PETER JENNINGS

Peter Jennings of ABC news has died of lung cancer at the age of 67.

Now, I'm aware that most folks have always thought of Peter as one of the members of the "main stream media" that have always "spun" the news to fit the liberal agenda. Perhaps they're right. My own thoughts though, are that even if that were true there were always greater "offenders" than Peter was. And I always got the impression that Peter was never out out to "tear down" - like Dan Rather proved he was. My impression was that Peter genuinely wanted to make the world a better place without stepping on people.

I grew up in the 70's and Peter was a fixture on the television set. There was no DRUDGE REPORT back in those days. You got your news in 30 minute nightly segments from guys like Peter. So Peter was a part of my childhood.

And my, how the world has changed since those ancient days of the 70's. Back then, the latest great revolution had been the "industrial revolution" - we had no idea back then that we were sitting on the precipice of another great revolution that would completely change our world - the Information Revolution.

A lot has changed since those days - but it was always good to turn on the TV every now and again and see the same face on the nightly news that I saw when I was a teenager. For many of us, Peter kind of guided us throughout our lives - he was an unchanging constant in a world that was changing at an insane pace. And that brought about a certain kind of "peace" to us.

It's sad to lose him.

However, that's really the selfish emotion here. The sadness, is really for ourselves - not for Peter.

There is no reason to be sad for Peter. Peter did what a precious few of us ever accomplish ...

He lived a full life. A VERY full life!

I would have wished Peter many more years of a healthy full life - but when he drew his last breath, he had nothing to regret.

Peter quit High School in the tenth grade. He never went to college. In spite of that, he became a GIANT in the news industry. He rapidly rose up the ranks in the 60's due to his tireless hard work ethic and he never quit. Peter was one of those men who are rapidly disappearing from the American landscape - the truely "self made" men who become successful by sheer force of will and desire. Peter was never technically "qualified" to do what he was doing, in fact, he was grossly underqualified for what he was doing - yet he did it better than anyone else did.

Peter traveled the globe during his lifetime. He interviewed hugely important historic people that, today, many of us don't even remember because we were too young - like Anwar Sadaat of Egypt. Peter covered the Vietnam war and he covered the Iraqi War - and every major historical event in between. Peter lived one helluva of life. There's nothing sad about that - that's not a tragedy - not at all.

So although it's well and fine that we are saddened by the loss of a familiar icon to us - I think most people will agree that to shed a tear for Peter personally would be inappropriate. He did it the way it was supposed to be done. There's nothing sad in that.

Great life Peter - and farewell old friend ...