Tribute to Andy Rooney
If it was Sunday night in my father's house, 60 minutes was on - unless it was football season in which case I had to listen to my father complain until the game was over for the delayed start of one of the only shows dad made an appointment to watch.
Thought provoking journalism was the reason our 5 channel TV was tuned in each week. As a kid this was mostly boring to me and I looked forward to the end of the program when dad would put his nose in a book and relinquish the TV to me.
Something happened at the end of many shows though. Mom and dad would laugh at what Andy Rooney had to say. As a kid, there was something special about hearing my parents laugh out loud and this interested me enough to begin to watch with them.
Andy Rooney talked about paper weights, computers, and and a host of other topics too numerous to name. He observed, and commented, and got us to focus on quirky little things we accepted that maybe we shouldn't - or at least if we did we should laugh about it. If he could posthumously do a piece right now I bet he'd be looking into the origins of why people say, "rest in peace."
One of his best friends, Walter Cronkite, died recently and Andy said he wouldn't trade Walter's friendship for anything. When he did his tribute to Walter, it was obvious he lost a great friend. All of us who liked his curmudgeonly commentary over the decades, whose families gathered to laugh or ponder Andy's musings ever so briefly on a Sunday night, lost a friend today too.
Rooney would have bristled at my characterization since he didn't like people who didn't know him feeling like they did. I'm not saying I knew him. I'm just saying I enjoyed his company even though it was a one sided conversation. He was part of the best in television. I can't help feeling that just a little more of the world my father lived in and enjoyed is gone.
Andy Rooney may have pragmatically said this is just what happens. While this may be true, I don't have to like it.
Thank you Andy Rooney for being there on so many Sunday nights. You will be missed!
Comments (9)Subscribe to CommentsComment