Mark Shields — We will miss you
“Every one of us has been warmed by the fires we did not build and every one of us has drunk from the wells we did not dig. Together we can’t do less for those that come after us and together we can do so much more” — Mark Shields
Like a big column standing upright over the ages, Mark Shields has been with us across the table from David Brooks, David Gergen, Paul Gigot and Lucius Sejanus. Before Christmas was his final regular appearance on the Friday PBS NewsHour. We can’t help but be sad to lose that weekly bulwark of democracy, but we can delight in the 33 years of Shields giving us the political and social situation and his thoughts on it.
He always told it how it was with no personal agenda other than to make us take notice of what has been happening and how it should rattle in our heads. Shields could always be counted on for digging into history, putting us in another’s shoes, painting scenarios and delivering arguments with humor and wit.
He remains Wow about politics — and that we need to increase, not decrease, this wonderful part of our lives because the alternatives are fist fights, military takeovers and nuclear plumes.
Shields believes that time spent listening to folks with views different from our own is always worth the trouble, because from these exchanges solutions (even part solutions) can be uncovered, and fashioned into secure agreements. He also understands that total solutions are unlikely and holding out for them often nails the box of absolutely nothing happening. Success, to Shields, is defined by making policy and legislation better than it served the day before rather than building a grand opera house for all times.
Praise for Mark Shields can not be separated from praise for his colleague and friend David Brooks as the interaction of the two has delivered something not only unique but way, way beyond the wonderful achievements of each by themselves.
For the final program celebrating Mark Shield’s contribution to American politics and well being, go to the PBS NewsHour Dec. 18.