Goodbye, Peter Jennings, and thanks.

[LadyJeanne]

The sadness I felt this morning at the passing of Peter Jennings ran deeper than I might have expected. He was always my dad's favorite of the three network anchors. Being a recent immigrant to the US himself, my dad liked that Peter was foreign and that he reported from overseas. He believe that gave Jennings a more balanced and global perspective. Mostly though, my dad was still learning English and he found Jennings' diction easiest to understand.

For as far back as I can remember, if I was hanging around while my dad watched the news, he'd make me try to translate what Jennings what saying and he'd ask me about word meanings and usage. Jennings made that a challenge for me. As a 10 year old who just wanted to go read Alice in Wonderland again, I had to really pay attention to context in order to understand what in the world "disarmament" meant and then try to translate that into our language.

Eventually, as I started paying closer attention, I started to notice Jennings. It's possible that, as a teenager, I might have had a vague, distant crush on him, but I think he was just a little too old for me for that. But I did grow to respect him, and to admire him, and, now, to mourn him.

Goodbye Peter. And thanks.

 

[logophile]

 

[minsue]

 

[Guest]