Your Job, Your life and lessons learned from Tim Russert

Your Job, Your life and lessons learned from Tim Russert I doubt there are many doorknobs left in America that have not learned about journalist Tim Russert’s death this past week. I count myself as one of the millions of fans that will miss one of the few credible providers of information. As a nation, if not the world, we were blessed by so many lessons provided by Mr. Russert. The first lesson is one that I learned rather early in life, and that is NO ONE GUARENTEES US TIME! How many times do we need a reminder that life is fleeting at best, fragile but mostly, life is precious. Be cavalier if you like, the quality of one’s life is solely the responsibility of its owner. Sorry to remind anyone of this, but as adults it’s no longer the faults of bad parenting, bad aunts or uncles, bad teachers, bad luck or circumstance. We all are given a choice daily, every moment about attitude, commitment and action. Driving down the street, I have found myself, on occasion, behind a vehicle with a bumper sticker proudly proclaiming, “My job sucks!” Smiling, my only thought is “you’ve earned that job.” Making choices may be tough. Taking action might be tougher, but it’s the adult thing to do, and quite frankly, it’s the most freeing. Change, if you hate your job. If you need help, get it. If not, keep your anger and your dis-ease to yourself. Balance, it would outwardly seem is something Tim Russert excelled at. I wonder if his family would agree. I also subscribe to, against many experts advice, to the notion that life must also flow. Walls between life, person, family and friends make for a fractured life. Sounds sort of schyzophrenic to me. Appropriate balance. Doing the job that we love might just be the best gift and education we could give our children. What better compensation could anyone ever desire?