Godspeed, Mr. Cronkite!

"Newsman Walter Cronkite, who died at the age of 92, was so thoroughly and uniquely linked with the word 'trust' that it is tempting to say that the word should be buried with him. In the generation since he left the anchor desk at the CBS Evening News, there have been other public figures who inspire passion, devotion, confidence, intensity and personal identification. But trust, that milder but deeper sentiment — Cronkite owned it."

Always Golden

My world is a little darker & a little sadder today.

Bea Arthur passed away this morning.

Thank you, Bea, for giving us Maude & Dorothy.

They (YOU) are more precious to your fans than you will ever know.

May you find even a fraction of the joy you gave to others while we were blessed enough to have you here.

When you meet your Maker, I pray you are given at least one star for every time you made us laugh.

The entire night sky wouldn’t be enough.

Heath Ledger (Part 2)

No other reason for the 2001 picture other than it is a beautiful picture of beautiful man who left this world all too soon...it's just a good picture of his natural beauty.

R.I.P. R.F.K.

On this day in 1968, only 63 days after the loss of Dr. King, Robert Kennedy was slain at the age of 42, ripping away yet another piece of America's heart & hope.

When I think of Bobby Kennedy, I am always reminded of how his brother, Sen. Ted Kennedy, eulogized him:

My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.

Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.

As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him:

"Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."

An odd thing about hope: it is steel & it survives in spite of the ravages of time & circumstance. Hope is either eternal, or it is nothing at all.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/06/brown.rfkbtsc/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Martin Luther King Jr.: January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968

Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lotta people but it seems the good they die young
I just looked around and he's gone

Didn't you love the things that they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
And we'll be free
Some day soon, it's gonna be one day

"Abraham, Martin and John" by Dion & the Belmonts

Today, April 4, 2008, is the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King died that day, the victim of a bullet to the head, on the 2nd floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee while visiting in support of striking sanitation workers.

Jesse Jackson, who was with Dr. King at the time of the shooting, confirms that the last words spoken by Dr. King were to his friend & musician Ben Branch, who was to perform at a gathering later that evening. Those words, according to the 2006 book, At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68, were "Ben, make sure you play Take My Hand, Precious Lord in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty." It was his friend, the great, Grammy-award winning gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, who sang the song, his favorite hymn, at his funeral at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where he is buried.

James Earl Ray subsequently confessed to Dr. King's murder on March 10, 1969.

Below is a couple of clips of speeches given by Dr. King. The first one is part of the final speech that Dr. King gave the night before his death at the age of 39. Next is a clip of an anti-war speech given by Sen. Robert Kennedy, who also assassinated in 1968--2 months & 2 days after Dr. King's death. Another shorter clip of Dr. King follows that.

Dr. King helped to introduce hope & the very concept of freedom to people of every different color & every walk of life, many of whom may have known the literal meanings of the words "hope" & "freedom", but who had never been personally familiar with the ideas that the words represent.

In the song, "America The Beautiful," I am reminded of the man who set all of us free:

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!

There is no way to properly describe what this world lost when Dr. King was taken from us. For so many--then & now--he was the very symbol of the potential our country had/has to be so much more than we think we are.

Even in death, he still reminds us today that what the world sees on the outside is the least of who we really are as beloved children of God.

Because of all he did for the Kingdom of God on earth while he was still here, he still speaks of his dream & of his undying hope for his beloved country & of his eternal belief that it is right that will make might...one day.

In his historic refusal to give up fighting the good fight, he still gently prods all who care about equality & justice to keep seeking the Promised Land.

Sometimes, it seems we still have so far to go, but, in Dr. King's honor, & because we really have no choice but to do the right thing, we must never allow ourselves to tire, and we must never take our eyes off the prize that Dr. King & so many others have earned with their precious blood. We must gently, yet steadfastly, continue that good fight even when we feel we have no fight left. It's what Dr. King did & it's what any lovers of liberty must do.

Dr. King: "All we say to America is, 'Be true to what you said on paper.' If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions; maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the Freedom of Assembly. Somewhere I read of the Freedom of Speech. Somewhere I read of the Freedom of Press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for rights. So just as I say, we aren't going to let any dogs or water hoses turn us around; we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around."

"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead, but it really doesn't matter with me now because I've been to the mountaintop, and I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So, I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy: "I don't think any of us will be satisfied in the United States until that war is brought to an honorable end and American soldiers are brought back here to the United States."

Dr. King: "One day we will have to stand before the God of history and we will talk in terms of things we’ve done."

"It seems that I can hear the God of history saying, 'That was not enough! But I was hungry, and ye fed me not...'"

In the interest of complete historical accuracy, the remainder of Dr. King's last quote follows here: "...I was naked, and ye clothed me not. I was devoid of a decent sanitary house to live in, and ye provided no shelter for me. And consequently, you cannot enter the kingdom of greatness. If ye do it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye do it unto me.' That’s the question facing America today."

Gone Too Soon...Addendum

In the midst of the tragic loss of Heath Ledger, I had wondered about how Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath's co-star in Brokeback Mountain, had been taking his best friend's death.


From this article in the online version of the UK's Daily Telegraph (http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23105747-5001021,00.html?from=public_rss), apparently, Jake is as distraught as you imagine a best friend would be.

I didn't know that Jake was Matilda's (Heath's daughter's) godfather, but, besides her mom, another of Heath's Brokeback co-stars, Michelle Williams, at least this little girl has Jake to help her to remember her father.


In the local online newspaper for Heath's hometown of Perth, The West Australian, his family remembered him as ''the most amazing 'old soul' in a young man's body.''

They went on to say,

"As a close knit and very private family we have observed you so determined yet quietly travelling in your self-styled path in life, nothing would get in your way ... no mountain too tall, no river too wide.

"You dreamed your dreams and lived them with passion and intelligent commitment.

"We have been privileged to accompany you on a ride through life that has simply been amazing and through it all we have loved each other beyond imagination."

Heath's older sister, Kate, wrote that, in trying to create a tribute to her famous brother, she could ''hardly breathe''. ''We were the ultimate soul mates,'' she said, and added "You were so many things to so many people, but to me you were just my little brother."

As difficult as this continues to be for Heath's fans around the world, how beyond sad & beyond tragic this must all be for those who knew & loved him most.

The article from The West Australian can be found here http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=454282

Gone Too Soon...

I am sure this is now not news to anyone with a TV or internet access, but one of my most favorite actors, Heath Ledger, died yesterday. He was 28 years old & he had a 2-year-old daughter, Matilda.

I remember noticing Heath in his first American film, 10 Things I Hate About You. I thought it was a pretty good movie & he did a great job in it as Patrick, the boyfriend-for-hire. I was also very much looking forward to seeing him portray the Joker in the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight". I've seen pix of his character & they are truly disturbing, in a great way, artistically speaking. What a talented actor who can play two such disparate roles!

Of course, he cemented himself as a great actor with his role as Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain. I may be prejudiced, but his part in that movie literally brought me to tears. It is a film that will stay with me always!

Considering the 2 roles I mentioned above with his Ennis Del Mar character, you can't help but see how fearless he was as an actor. I'm sure he was the same in his real (former) life.

It's always sad when someone so young & with so much potential leaves us all-too-soon. Heath, of course, is no exception.

I keep his family in my thoughts & I will miss him very much.