Friday, August 31, 2007
TEN YEARS AFTER
On this date ten years ago, my day started with the ringing of the telephone in my hotel room in Scotland.
"Did you hear about Princess Diana?"
I SWEAR TO GOD!
After some prompting from others, I said to her, "Look, you can tell me to (unprintable), but...it wasn't the greatest day of Princess Diana's life, because her life is over. And she wasn't there to see it because she's dead."
But do you think the tenth anniversary of Mother Teresa's death (next Wednesday) will attract the same kind of attention?
But Mother Teresa wasn't a hot babe who wore a tiara, and died with her gazzilionnaire boyfriend in a Mercedes in Paris.
We were on a much-needed vacation, and I assumed it was a friend calling to tell me of our golf plans for the day.
That wasn't why he was called. 
"Did you hear about Princess Diana?"
"No. What did she do...get married?"
"Nope. She's dead."
That call turned an idyllic vacation into...well...a different vacation.
Because after a call to the station, I was pressed into service to cover her funeral.
This post was going to be about those days in London, but I'm going to take a detour.
(But before I do, one quickie: A bunch of local reporters were working out of CNN's London headquarters, including me. And that's where I heard the line I'll never, ever forget. The reporter for the Tribune stations...Channels 11 and 61 among them...began her story: "It was the greatest day of Princess Diana's life, and she wasn't there to see it."
I SWEAR TO GOD!
After some prompting from others, I said to her, "Look, you can tell me to (unprintable), but...it wasn't the greatest day of Princess Diana's life, because her life is over. And she wasn't there to see it because she's dead."
And I walked out of the room. Someone told me she changed it. I still think Channel 61 owes me.)
Now the detour. While I was in London to cover the funeral, another remarkable woman died.
Mother Teresa.
Much of the media will be preoccupied remembering Diana on this anniversary of her death.
It is an "event."
But do you think the tenth anniversary of Mother Teresa's death (next Wednesday) will attract the same kind of attention?Of course not.
Yes, Diana did good work (AIDS, land mines)...but Mother Teresa dedicated her life to good works in a God-awful place.
And in the end, given recent revelations that she questioned her faith and even the existence of her God, Teresa may have been infinitely more interesting and complex than Diana.
But Mother Teresa wasn't a hot babe who wore a tiara, and died with her gazzilionnaire boyfriend in a Mercedes in Paris.
So there you go.
And here I go.
Off next week. (Another idyllic vacation?)
Talk to you soon.
Posted at 12:18 AM by Gerry
4 Comments:
I think one of the reasons I admire you so much is because you have the guts to say what so many others would (at best) just think.
Mother Theresa was an inspirational woman....it's a shame she won't be honored in the same was as Princess Di.
Thank you very much!
I agree so much, anon. And hey Gerry, are you back this week of the 10th??? I hope your vacation was wonderful. Peter
I'm back, and yes, it was wonderful.
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