Oprah.

I know I'm going out on a limb on this one, but...

Here's the abbreviated Associated Press report:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oprah Winfrey is mourning the death of her 2-year-old golden retriever, Gracie.
"Weeks have passed," Winfrey says in the August issue of O, the Oprah Magazine. "And the pain has not subsided. Every time I think about it, my heart starts racing and I feel like I just got stabbed in the chest."
On May 26, Gracie choked to death on a plastic ball while out with her dog walker, Winfrey says. "I ran barefoot out of the house and found the dog walker and one of my security guys pumping her chest," Winfrey, 53, recalls. "Just as I reached them, the security guy looked up and said, `I'm sorry, ma'am. We tried everything. I'm sorry. She's gone."'
Winfrey -- who "stood there dazed, stunned, crying" as Gracie was placed in a golf cart -- says she learned this lesson: Enjoy life but remember to slow down, too.
Winfrey says she "got the message" to slow down and catch her breath when Gracie died.

So just out of curiosity, I googled the story, and found dozens of web sites had picked up the story with headlines ranging from "OPRAH'S HEARTBREAK" (Inside Edition) to "OPRAH'S ANGUISH OVER DECEASED DOG" (Star Magazine).

It's been years, but I've met Oprah (through her best friend, of course), and she treated me quite well.
I, like millions of others, know that she's done wonderful things with her money and fame.
I have no axe whatsoever to grind. As a matter of fact, I wish her show led into the news on NBC 30.
And I have no doubt she loved her dog as much as you do yours. (If, of course, you have a dog...with or without walkers and security guys.)

OK, enough with the qualifiers. (See! The power of O is omnipresent.)

It just bothers me that the passing of a celebrity's dog and the life lesson she learned from it gets so much attention.

More than 3-thousand Americans have died in Iraq. Each is a powerful and sad story that deserves far more attention, no matter how you feel about the war.

Many of us have weathered losses of friends and family. We may wish those we loved commanded the attention received by Oprah's golden retriever on their passing.
Any feeling, caring person would take life lessons from their losses.

My most powerful moment...my "message received"...came not from the deaths of my father, my professional mentor, or one of my closest friends (all far too soon).

It came years ago from a little girl...murdered in East Hartford.
Covering the funeral, the photographer and I kept a respectful distance.
But the sight of the casket...the very tiny casket...as it was taken from the hearse moved us both to quiet tears. We could barely speak.

I've always kept this very personal moment to myself.

But if Oprah's dog can capture worldwide headlines, then a little girl who never had a chance...whose name I'll never recall...deserves at least this little nook of cyberspace.