It's our turn to say, "many thanks, Peter."

yeah, it's really sad. I grew up an NBC kid and regard Tom Brokaw as sort of a demi-god so I wasn't as attached to Peter but it's kind of a shock. I mean these anchors are people who connect with the country, day in and day out, and you grow to know them on a level where they are almost part of the family.

He had such stature too. It must have been really hard for him, they said he only lived a few blocks from the studio but couldn't even make it to his own front door most days. I can't think about it anymore than that or else I'll cry.

sorry to get frank, but Lung Cancer. I know there are other causes of this terrible cancer besides smoking. My mom's best friend died a week ago because of lung cancer. She was 53, and was a chain smoker.

from cancer.org:

Smoking is by far the leading risk factor for lung cancer. Tobacco smoke causes more than 8 out of 10 cases of lung cancer. The longer a person has been smoking and the more packs per day smoked, the greater the risk. If a person stops smoking before lung cancer develops, the lung tissue slowly returns to normal. Stopping smoking at any age lowers the risk of lung cancer.
--

there are definitely other causes to lung cancer, asbestos being one. What am I getting at? I guess I just never saw Peter as a smoker. maybe he wasn't, maybe he was. I don't know what I am getting at really, probably nothing, just wanted to bring up what caused Peter Jennings and my moms best friend to perish.

thanks Peter Jennings.

i saw my aunt for the last time three days before she
died of lung cancer...she was barely recognizable because of all
of the steroids and such she was on to keep her alive...

with that said..my family always watched dan rather...
peter jennings, though, always did seem to have a
certain amount of compassion that the others lacked..

r.i.p. mr jennings.

crazy when such a strong public figure dies.

felt this way when johnny cash died.

sad.

I miss Robin MacNeil...


(still very much alive)


(another Canadian)

wisof, I just did read that Peter Jennings was a smoker. I didn't know that. They said he quit 20 years ago but took it up again after 9/11.

This might sound terrible but I have a hard time feeling sorry for people who smoke and then get lung cancer. I mean nobody should die but everybody knows that smoking causes cancer so how stupid can you be? I'm quite surprised that Peter Jennings smoked, I guess I thought he had a baby face and seemed too smart to do something like smoke. This news takes the edge off of my sympathy a bit.

:o\

wisof, he smoked regularly until 20 years ago and started smoking again after sept. 11. heard that yesterday on npr.

i woke up with a sonic boom half hour ago space shutle has

i woke up with a sonic boom half hour ago space shutle has

landed.
i am going to quit smoking next month.

i quit in march. jennings was the reason i stayed with it. and continues to be.

>>hard time feeling sorry for people who smoke and then get lung cancer.

scientists postulate that nicotine is more addictive than heroin.

hmm...and heroin's illegal.

I, too, was shocked and saddened.


>>hard time feeling sorry for people who smoke and get lung cancer

Then I guess you don't feel sorry for people who get heart attacks, strokes, liver failure, etc., from poor diet and lack of exercise?

Sorry, but those are larger issues than smoking. Smoking is just a single, easily pointed out, killer.

Personally, I do feel sorry for people that suffer due to addictions. I feel less sorry for people that eat poorly and don't exercise, as that's just laziness.


RIP Peter Jennings

Trust me folks, I have a deep seated anger against smokers...My grandfather died in his 60's because of smoking. He smoked until the day he died at the hospital. My father smokes too, we are supposed to pretend he doesn't because in all my life and my brother's he has never admitted to it or smoked in front of us. We are all in our 20's now. It's a strange stange situation we live in.

But at the same time that I have a seething anger towards all people who willingly pick up smoking, I have this sad compassion. Sometimes the best people make the worst decisions, why I don't know.

My attitude is similar to psteiners'. It's a psychological thing and has been ever since I was a kid and trying to get my parents to stop smoking. I understand that it is terribly addictive but the science showing that it is bad for you is so overwhelming that I have a hard time with people saying they "can't" give it up. It's a waste of money, breath, and energy.

And I have serious issues with people who talk about "smokers' rights". Smokers don't have rights when they are polluting my air and basically harming me, although you can't see it on the surface. Second-hand smoke kills, too.

i would definetly support a smoking ban... each persons liberties should extend only as far as they dont infringe on the liberties of others... non smokers liberties are violoated by being forced to be with smokers.

however... an outright ban on all smoking is ludicris, i dont understand why they cant just say... this is a smoking bar... this is a non smoking bar... if you want to smoke, go to joe's if you dont want to smoke go to steve's

i never watched peter jennings of tv much or any of the nightly news cast for that matter, but i did get to see him take part in the boston pops 4th of july ceremonies a few years ago. he spoke clearly, chose his words well...very articulate and his presence added to the general elegance of the evening. it was one of the few times in the post 9/11 world that i have actually felt proud to be an american. indeed, not bad at all for a canadian ;)

we'll miss you peter, rest in peace.

but its still sad when someone with as much presence as peter jennings dies... sometimes seems like they are imortal, they are on TV every night

I miss this amazing American treasure.   Journalism, in it’s truest form, is dead in this country. I can hear Peter now! The things he would be thinking and doing! There will never be another like him. He was dashing, personable, caring, very kind.... I could go on.

 “Winter has gone but not from my room, snow’s left the lane but forget-me-nots forgot to bloom. I'll carry on the way you told me. I say that like I have a choice. And though you are not here to hold me In the echoes I can hear your voice. But still one question fills my day, Dear. The answer I've most longed to know. Each moment since you went away, Dear, my question, Love, is where’d you go?”

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. 

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. 

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good. — W.H. Auden

It will be 15 years tomorrow since he had to leave us.

I stopped in the airport just yesterday when I heard his voice. It was a special about the 1980’s. I look around and he was just here. The coffee cup still sits where it was. I never would have believed that he’d go away. That he could just disappear.  That picture stares back at me. I can still feel him in the air. It’s not fair.

I stood at the edge of his kingdom
Peered longingly inside 
Remembering all of the promises 
We’d made before he died

I thought of the love I knew in his eyes
Its feel in his clasping hand
The caring tone, the resonant voice
As we walked alone on the sand

I’d sat beside him as he worked
I’d seen his mind at play
He’d never shown me anger
He dearly bid me stay

I’d left his kingdom hopeful
I’d return, so what the cost
There was not one inkling then
That all would soon be lost

I returned to find him broken 
Both in body and in heart
We knew we had but little time
To finish our brief start

And so we set about a plan 
To check off our short list
We’d do and have the things we could
And not think of all we’d miss

I’ve had lots of time to miss 
The things we could not do
Every day I miss him
He is where I look up to

All we did and said, I know
Those memories are intact
And all the things we did and said
I never would take back

He was a man who looked at life
As one slice at a time
He offered me the entire pie
I was his and he was mine

I wanted so to rescue him
That misty April day
His presence is still with me 
And I’m rescued every day

The love and admiration
The charisma and the grace
I won’t see any more of that
Until, once more, I see his face

He was more man than icon
He was not standard, but above
He gave me all the world, and yet
He always gives me love

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart
until, in our own despair, against our will,
comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.

I can't forget the melody
Although our song is through
The love we shared
The dream we dared
Was just a prayer
That can't come true

I tried to stop remembering
But till the day I die
Within my memory
Will live the melody
Of the song that was you and me

Although our song is through
I can't stop loving you
For I can't forget the melody

Sneaky Pete,

Until you've known the love as deeply as I did, and known the depths of loss that I know, back off. It's been sixteen years since the diagnosis and it isn't one bit better. I sure don't wish it on you.

I can't tell if Later knew Jennings personally and this is a touching, if questionably located, bit of emotional honesty. Or if they have some kind of deep parasocial obsession and it manifests through vague forum poetry. Mostly I'm confused.

Later, Later.

So it's like one of those roadside places where people leave stuffies and flowers and candles. I can get behind that.