Sadly, we lost one of the good guys today. I spent the evening listening to tributes to my favorite television commentator Tim Russert. In the age of in your face commentary, to me Tim always stood above that as civil, fair, decent and genuinely interested in the collective good of our society. Measured by his intellect, rather than how much he shouted, he was a giant, the model of what journalism used to be, rather than what it has, in too many cases, become. We need more Tim's.

You may wonder what that has to do with this blog. For me, there is a personal connection. Tim Russert was in part inspiration for this project. At the time I was pondering my idea, I picked up Tim's second book, Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons. In that book I read the collection of letters in which people shared their memories of their fathers...heartfelt tales of good times, funny times, sad times, tales of admiration, gratitude, and even tales of regret. As I read that book, and it's crafting, I saw in it my vision for what I was contemplating for this project. "This can work", I thought, the encouragement I needed at the time to develop this idea and take it on. Thanks Tim. When our time is called, we all should aspire to have lived our life as meaningfully and as decently as you did.