The world has lost a legend. Yesterday, broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite died at age 92.
Long before cable television, CNN, and the internet, the world tuned in to CBS News every evening to hear the venerable Cronkite tell us what was going on in the world, and he gave us the news of some of the most important moments in American history, from the Apollo 11 moon landing, to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.
The first time I ever heard about the Vietnam War was from Walter Cronkite. I remember asking my parents where Vietnam was and if I would have to go there and fight. My mother assured me that the war would be over long before I was old enough to have to go, but my father, a World War II veteran, just looked worried and didn’t say anything. In the next few years I watched my older cousins go off to fight in Vietnam, and then my turn came. By then Walter Cronkite had already told America that we were mired in a stalemate in Vietnam, and public opinion had turned against the war. If “Uncle Walter” said so, we knew it was true. Because as he told us every night, “And that’s the way it is.”
Rest in peace, Mr. Cronkite. The evening news has not been the same since you left.
On another note, we can’t figure out what happened, but a lot of people that were not due to renew their subscriptions yet received renewal notices with the new issue of the Gypsy Journal. The gremlins were apparently creating havoc with our mailing list and they sure have caused a lot of confusion.
You can check your renewal date by reading the top line of the address block on your envelope. It will have a two digit number, as well as possibly some initials. That two digit number is the issue your subscription expires with. For example, the current issue is Number 61, so if that two digit number on your address block is 66, you still have five issues left on your subscription.
If you received an unexpected renewal notice and your address block still shows you are current, please disregard the notice you received and please accept our apologies for the inconvenience.
We received confirmation yesterday afternoon that we will be able to get a last minute vendor booth at the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) rally in Bowling Green, Ohio next week. So we’ll leave Elkhart Campground Sunday morning and make the 150 mile drive to Bowling Green State University, where the rally is being held, and get our booth set up and ready to do business.
That means today will be busy as Terry does the laundry, I print booklets to sell at the rally, and we do all of the last minute chores needed before we take off. FMCA rallies have never been very successful events for us in terms of sales, but we hope to be able to make a few sales and introduce some folks to the Gypsy Journal. Wish us luck!
Thought For The Day – I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Nick, I know what you mean when you wrote: “The evening news has not been the same since you [Walter Cronkite] left.” As a former journalism professor, it was harder and harder towards the end of my teaching career to emphasize that print and broadcast journalists needed to be objective in their reporting of the news — and not making the news through the sharing of their personal opinions. While I love the internet, I hate that folks believe everything they read online. Unfortunately, that’s the way it is…. 🙁
I want to add to your eulogy of Walter Cronkite, but I am finding it impossible to top your statement “the evening news has not been the same since (Cronkite) left”. About the only thing I might add would be to take out the word “evening”. I have not once felt the same sense of integrity since Walter left the news scene.
Travel Safe,
K&K
Nick, just discovered your daily blog and look forward to reading it every day. I have looked at the Gypsy Journal web page from time to time but seems I seemed to have missed your blog.
Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy it. It seems to be one of the few articles I read that is written by someone with common sense. Your comments about being an American first and not a Democrat or Republican is certainly refreshing – unfortunate how divided this country seem have become. Compromise seems to be a concept of the past. I also could not agree more that the media has lost its way when it spends the inordinate amount of time on Michael Jackson “that sick drug taking weirdo” while the real heros are in the foreign lands protecting these same individuals inflicting that trash upon us day after day. Keep up the great work – it is appreciated by this reader. M.O.