What Would Tim Do? - 6/22/2008
Tuesday, June 24th 2008 @ 2:29 PM
It’s been a week since Tim Russert died. I realize many of you may not care about this at all. But it really hit me in a personal way that I didn’t really understand at first. I didn’t think it was just because I watch Meet the Press on Sundays, or because I watched him a lot during this primary season. So I listened to the tributes all week from his friends, family, colleagues, and all the people who loved him for a clue about what this meant to me and what I could learn.
I have always been a big fan of funerals, actually. I like to speak at them and I always listen intensely to the eulogies. They can teach us about what is important, what we truly value, and what we hope people will say about us when it’s our turn to be remembered. When you are trying to determine what road you want to travel, what action you want to choose, or what values should guide you, it is actually a valuable exercise to picture your own funeral, to visualize who is speaking or who you hope will be there and what you would like them to say.
The most important question I think you can ask yourself is “What do you want your life to be about”? Not “What do you want to achieve?” Not even “What do you want in life?” but, really “What do you want your life to be about?” For Tim Russert --apparently without question--family and friends were at the top of his list. Over and over, each person who remembered him said Tim always went out of his way to inquire about how their son or daughter, mom or dad was doing - especially if they were facing any kind of challenge.
So today while I was hurrying to try to get started on my work, feeling overwhelmed even before the day began, I went into my office and closed the door. When I turned on the computer what I saw staring at me was the first line of this blog that I written before I left the office last night.
What Would Tim Do?
At that moment I realized that the bookkeeper who comes in once a week, who I had just hurried past with a quick hello, had spent the entire week taking her mother from one doctor to another, trying to find out if her mom had cancer. I knew immediately what Tim would do. I opened the door, walked back out of my office into hers and asked “How’s your mom doing?” We chatted for three minutes probably. But we connected in a way that not only left her feeling better and cared about, but left me also feeling much more grounded, less overwhelmed, and ready to work because I had connected with the world in a much more human way.
I learned a lot this week from watching how one man lived his life guided by his caring, his compassion, and his values. I know Tim Russert must have been much busier than I feel I am! Because of my ADD brain I don’t think I will ever be as consistent as Tim was in communicating his caring. I don’t have his energy or personality or his brain but I think I probably do care as much as he did.
So as I go through my days, over-focused at times on work or projects, I hope that I will pause from time to step back, remember what I want my life to be about and ask my self the simple question, “What would Tim do?
