Tim Russert, dead at 58

Election night will never be the same. I'm shocked.

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Update (06/14/08): I originally wrote this post from my BlackBerry after hearing about the news from richie. I was in Union Square in New York where there were a lot of people walking around. For some reason I wanted to stop someone and just tell them the news, but if felt weird. At any rate, while typing away, a man stopped in front of me a started talking to me. Immediately I told him: "Do you watch the news? Tim Russert died." He responded: "Actually, I just arrived from Denver from our temple, and I don't watch the news. I don't know who he is." And then he tries to sell me his Hare Krishna books and shows me his prayer beads. Omigosh. I felt like I was in the middle of some twilight zone. On one hand, how refreshing to be genuinely oblivious to the world at large and just be concerned with preaching enlightenment. However, one of the most prominent journalists of our generation just passed how could you not be affected by it for just a teeny bit? Anyway, after a minute of small talk, I asked him: "Are you giving this book to me or are you selling?" He said that it was a $5 donation. I told him he could keep his book and gave him $5.

Later, when relaying the news to some friends, it turned out that they had no idea who Tim Russert was as well. So in the end, I had been enlightened after all. Our worlds may or may not intersect at the point where the death of Tim Russert matters. We make our own reality, and it is a reality that is all our own. How interesting that the death of someone of Tim Russert's stature could be full of meaning and be totally meaningless at the same time.