“The evil that men do lives after them,

The good is oft en-terred with their bones,”

Sure, Shakespeare’s work can be critically analyzed on a variety of abstract levels, but Shakespeare was not only an artist, he was also a philosopher. Above all he was also simply a commentator on the human condition, and for this, not because of his supreme artistry or his philosophical insight, he will always remain evergreen in our minds, because he said it all (almost), and he said it first. Take Russert’s sudden and tragic death, for instance. The character and circumstance of Mark Anthony when he is made to deliver the above utterance becomes subliminally clear to us when we consider that there is something wrong with these fulsome sounding words. That’s why they haunt us so, not only are they very very bitter, but they are also untrue. Speaking on his father’s death, my cousin Rev. Frank Barker said the very opposite. He said words to the effect that when a good man dies, in spite of the sadness, that is occasion for rejoicing not mourning, because it means that he has completed his mission here on earth, and that no matter how bleak the future may seem to us now, everything that man worked towards in life for the good of others will almost certainly come to pass.

When we look at the deaths of men like, MLK, The Kennedys, and other good men who passed from natural causes, some earlier than we would have liked, it becomes obvious that Shakespeare was either in an uncharacteristically bitter mood, or was deliberately portraying Anthony as an artful dissembler. I think the latter. Listening to the endless and obviously well deserved encomiums, I couldn’t help thinking that what I would also like to have is a summary of some of the targets Russert may have set his journalistic sights on in the course of his career and the effectiveness of his efforts to bring light and truth to the darkness against which journalists must unceasingly toil.