Promises To Keep

I’m just sitting, thinking solemnly tonight about my professional mentors, why most of them have departed this life and what the message is to me in that.  I can’t help it that sometimes, they stay heavy on my mind.  They were all the consummate journalists, at the very top of their crafts; yet they always, always made time for me whenever I had a question, or a concern.  Asa Baber, the premiere men’s columnist at Playboy magazine, died a few years ago of ALS, or Lou Gherig’s Disease.  Before that, I lost other close friends and mentors in NBC-TV national network anchor Max Robinson, to AIDS, and editorial page editor Leanita McClain of The Chicago Tribune, to suicide.   Each of them left me with a commitment to excellence at writing, and with a great work to do.  I’m clear about what it is that’s expected of me.  I only pray that they see me, continue to guide my steps, and that what I do fittingly honors their memory.