July 24, 2009

A Tribute to Walter Cronkite—A Mentor to Roots of Peace

For decades, Walter Cronkite was the most “trusted voice in America” and personified television journalism as he entered our homes each evening through the black and white television screen. Steady, straight-forward with a trim mustache, he delivered the news every night with an iconic sign-off, “That's the way it is...”

On November 22, 1963, I was watching the infamous television broadcast with my brother, Bob, as our parents turned up the volume. As a bewildered Kindergarten student at age five, I was still confused by the early departure from school when our parents came to pick us up from Dominican Garden School in San Rafael, California, on a stormy morning. As my mother placed the yellow rain slicker over my shoulders, warm tears were dropping from her face in tandem with the raindrops. Sister Patricia Lyons, O.P. cupped my cheeks in her hand and told me to “go home and pray for peace” as our President John F. Kennedy was just shot. The rich baritone voice of Walter Cronkite now echoed through our kitchen, as he calmly shared the news with the world. Then, I vividly remember him slowly removing his glasses to check the time as he blinked back tears. Our childhood innocence was shattered, as he calmly shared the news with the world that President Kennedy had just died.

In October 1997, I came face-to-face with Walter Cronkite at The State of the World Forum in San Francisco. As a former CNN producer/reporter in the Soviet Union in the late 1980's, I was honored to be invited by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev—along with 50 leaders from 50 nations—to transform conversations that matter into actions that make a difference.

A “council of the wise” and a “global braintrust” was gathered together, as their collective wisdom were the foundation to guide the world into the 21st century.

Only a few weeks earlier, I had lifted my glass in a MINES TO VINES toast with a vision to transform toxic minefields into bountiful vineyards. As I spoke with Walter Cronkite regarding the ability to turn such “ideas into reality,” his velvet voice of encouragement inspired me to take footsteps forward for peace. Walter spoke of a compassionate society and his words echoed in my mind for years to come, “Life emerges from the interactions of proteins and nucleic acids; economies and societies emerge from the interactions of individuals.”

These words were the cornerstone of Roots of Peace. Now, twelve years later, the words of my Kindergarten teacher are intertwined with those of legendary broadcast journalist, Walter Cronkite, as we continue to “plant the roots of peace on earth...”

Walter Cronkite reached tens of millions of people with his warm voice and soft blue eyes, as he shared the state of the world to a global audience. As over 1000 guests gathered at St. Bartholomew's Church for his Memorial Service this week, a magnificent stone-and-brick church located on Park Avenue, I was reminded of yet another Roots of Peace event which he inspired. Over 3000 daffodil bulbs were hand-wrapped by San Rafael volunteers and shipped “pro bono” by Roots of Peace to St. Bartholomew's Church for the Interfaith tribute to the families and friends who died on September 11, 2001, in Manhattan. Turning seeds of terror into seeds of hope was his legacy. “And that's the way it is...”