The Bears' distraught matriarch, Virginia McCaskey, poignantly revealed her boundless affection for Sweetness. Men, women and children who were black, white and off-white told reporters that Payton was their model. Mourning survivors were given space by a restrained, respectful press that managed to do us proud. It was fine journalism, not seen often enough. Ruth Nathan Anderson is a syndicated columnist on celebrity health issues and an author, musical comedy playwright and lyricist.
All human life is precious.
Greatness is measured in how lives are lived, and in how they influence others and the course of events in great ways and small, noticed and unnoticed by media. Quibbling over whose great man gets more ink or air time belittles their achievements. It really doesn't matter how the capricious and mythomaniacal segments of the media describe greatness. They are more adept at defining celebrity. We know who the great ones are.