a final word with Andy Rooney

As I watched 60 Minutes, awaiting Andy Rooney's final broadcast, it was with nostalgia that I looked back at the years since I first became aware of him. My dad listened to him, my grandmother swore by  him--indeed, he spoke the words most of America were thinking, yet hadn't yet spoken.

The last 20 minutes of the show was spent with pictures and discussions of who he was and his mark in life. What struck me was his realizing while still in high school that he wanted to be a writer, per a teacher's suggestion. The next 80 years he wrote, first for Stars and Stripes newspaper, then for CBS. In 1978 he had his "A Final Word With Andy Rooney" as a weekly telecast on 60 Minutes, and life for him remained constant after that. As he said, "I have said some things that have hurt people, and I have said things that people have agreed with. For what I said that you didn't agree with, I apologize." That stunned me. Apologize. On TV. It takes a big person to do that and with the sincereity he felt. Tears came to my eyes and I sniffled quietly, as I continued to listen. He is 92 years old. He lived through both World Wars and although he grew up priviledged, he never let that get inthe way of speaking for you and I: Jane and Joe Little Guy. How often do we see that anymore? He spoke with honesty and with a sense of ethics. His desire to continue to blend in with the rest of us is what sets him apart. 

He has been known as a curmudgeon and getting more so each day. I looked over at my husband, who also had tears.Like me, he also grew up watching Andy. Like Andy, he also has been known to grumble and complain; in his words, "let me complain, damn it, what else have I to gripe about?" And I chuckle, because like Andy, he also speaks his mind when he sees an injustice, has been known to cry for those who have been hurt and has given of himself time after time to many, never seeking a reward. I patted his back and realized that there is a bit of Andy in all of us who seek good for others with little fanfare for ourselves. That, my friend is the way it should be. Because if we don't speak out for those who can't...who will?