Tim Russert Sudden Death

A bit over an hour ago I was in the midst of making lunch when I was informed that Tim Russert had collapsed and died at work. He was only 58. The person telling me this was quite shocked. I liked Tim Russert. He always seemed so enthusiastic and engaged. But my reaction to hearing he had died was pretty much, well, that's sad. I wasn't shocked. But I wondered what the cause of death was. He seemed like a rather robust healthy guy.

This got me thinking I've gotten pretty jaded. Since I've been in Texas I've gotten a few calls telling me a family friend or relative had died. I just sort of hear the news and don't get all mournful. Even when I got the call telling me that my grandma had died. Grandma was 94. She'd lived a good, long life.

Events in the world used to shock me. When I was younger the China earthquake would have seemed like a bigger deal. Or the current floods up north, evacuating Des Moines, Iowa is pretty major, but I've seen a lot of floods, filled a lot of sandbags.

Now it takes something catastrophic. The last time I remember being super shocked was the morning of 9/11. I got a call telling me that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. I assumed this meant the World Trade Center in Dallas, because the party calling me was in Dallas near the Trade Center. I was shocked to turn on the TV to see, within seconds, the second plane crash into the World Trade Center in NYC. I then began calling friends and relatives on the west coast to tell them to turn on their TVs, that our country was under attack.

I was a bit shocked when the Space Shuttle blew up over head and our freeway warning signs here said, "Watch for Space Shuttle Debris." I saw none. I didn't hear the explosion or see anything. Others here did.

I was shocked when Ronald Reagan was shot. I was shocked when the Challenger blew up. I had almost 2 decades of no major shock, til 9/11.

Maybe it's just getting older. People die, bad things happen, you get sort of used to it. It is sad though.