I miss William F. Buckley, Jr. and his television program “Firing Line” for both he and his program brought out the best in educational awareness. Each week, Mr. Buckley debated all different types of thinkers, from conservatives to liberals and thinkers in between those two extremes. That is to say, any individual who was knowledgeable on a subject was invited on his program. As a result, the debates were highly informative – indeed – such that I thoroughly improved my own civil discourse by taking in each week “Firing Line.”
I have heard that Mr. William F. Buckley, Jr. died of a heart attack while he was at his desk writing a column, that is, the precise way that all thinkers would like to die – doing the work that they loved most. I hope that when I die – many years from now, of course – that I die as did Mr. Buckley, doing the work that I loved best, writing and thinking. Sometimes Mr. Buckley was so controversial in his views that some people did not enjoy “Firing Line,” but those people, as I see it, made a big mistake in not tuning in their television sets to that program, for it greatly advanced top-flight mentality.
Furthermore, I say all of the aforesaid even though I am a die-hard liberal, for, as I say, William F. Buckley, Jr. invited all different persuasions, all different views of thoughts, for debate, and he relished it in doing so. To my mind, Buckley was not lauded the way he should have been by much of the public at large. Be it understood that Mr. William F. Buckley, Jr. was not a perfect man, and I have yet to meet a perfect man, or woman. However, like all winners, he rose above his faults to achieve greatest in that which he loved and lived for – the advance of the mind.
Dr. Robert W. Burton
Santa Clarita
