A regular guy...and a father.

I am really not one for celebrating days like "Fathers' Day", "Mothers' Day", etc. My honest view is that you don't wait for a special day of the year to celebrate the fact that you are, or have, or want to be. The year has 364 more days that are not being properly used. That said, if it focuses attention then I can see that it will have its attraction.

Today is interesting because one man known for being a great father and who admired enormously his own father, died last Friday. Tim Russert, the moderator of the famed Sunday morning US TV program on NBC, "Meet the Press".

The tributes are interesting, as they always are in public, and of course are positive. A strong theme comes through, though. He was a native of Buffalo, New York, and was never afraid to revere where he came from and take the opportunity to pump it up. He was also remembered for being a "regular guy", ready to just share a beer, or go to a football game, or just be in his town/city.

I won't claim to know Mr. Russert, though through one of life's coincidences I have met him and know a little his sister and a niece of his, through school connections of my wife and step-daughter. What I remember about him from a few short meetings and I see a lot in the images that are now being put out are his almost ever present smile or laugh. On "Meet the Press" he dissected politicians and issues always with that smile on his face. A smile can be very disarming, but it can also display what is really inside--a real pleasure in what you are doing.

But words and phrases like "mentor", "reached out", "supporter of young [journalists]", "father figure", "someone to look up to" are being reeled off. Those attributes need celebrating every day, not just once a year, and making the needed change to make them apply to women and mother. I'm not going to make a big spiel today about the bad rap that fathers get. It's just good to hear more of the praise and less of the dispair today, for Tim Russert's sake, but for many others too. There's ample evidence that many men/father fall short, but there's plenty of evidence that puts the same criticism in front of women/mothers. I am listening to a TV ad: "We all need care" it says. That says it. Tim Russert said parenthood changed his life and that he never missed out on any of the important events of his son, Luke's, boyhood. He felt truly blessed to be a parent. Better to do try to do that caring and parenting, however it happens to apply, for more than one day a year.