Thread by @pp8010

1. Not to be overtly maudlin right after the ball dropped, but the passing of #BettyWhite is affecting me ***way***more than it should-especially given her age of 99.
I've been sitting here trying to analyze why, and I thought I'd share...

2. It's because Betty was a unique national treasure-a throwback from a different era when we, as Americans had more grace, more class, and more goodness. She straddled two timelines, "her" generation AND the current one, staying relevant for over 60 years-right to the very end.

3. Can you think of anyone else that holds such a position in our hearts and minds? Have you ever heard anyone utter a bad word about her?
I can't think of any person who could "unite" America given our deep (and deepening) divisions, but if I had to wager for such a person,

4. it would have been Ms. White by a country mile. She was able to bridge all communication barriers-gender, race, and most notably, age.
She had love in abundance, as evidenced by how she treated her fellow performers on stage and screen. She never took herself too seriously,

5. and most of all, she had a toughness that is sorely lacking in, well, just about everyone these days-myself included.
She didn't gripe. She never "punched down." Aside from being uproariously funny, she showed us how to age gracefully and to be forever grateful for whatever

6. life offers-the good, the bad, and the ugly.
As a "student" of comedy, I'm particularly drawn to the older comedians and comedic actors of my childhood, the ones pre-Netflix and pre-VCR, who you could only see once a week on one of the three channels that, if you were like us,

7. were supplied by your black and white TV-the one with the aluminum foil on the antenna.
I don't know if they were more talented or not, but they seemed to have a certain panache and "all in" creative attitude for their art form than most, if not all, of the comedians of today.

8. The Carol Burnetts, Ted Knights, Dick Van Dykes, Harvey Kormans, Jonathan Winters, Flip Wilsons, Vicki Lawrences, Redd Foxxs, Tim Conways, and most of all....Betty White-oh how they made us laugh-and given the FCC's guidelines at the time-had to do so without cursing or overt

9. sexual tones.
I view the passing of each of these legends in a similar manner as the WWII vets leaving our company-something precious that is difficult, if not impossible to replace; certainly not by the current flock of TikTok, YouTube and Instagram upstarts that mistake

10. "views" and "likes" for a fond, long-lasting relevance with their audience. They are a dwindling resource.
You think "PewDiePie" will be remembered in twenty years? Don't count on it.
America needs the kind of national treasures that Betty White was.

11. She was a titan in her medium, like Bob Dole in the Senate, or Ruth Bader-Ginsburg on the Court, take your pick.
Great Americans are leaving us. Our country is poorer for it, and given our collective mood and fraying national fabric, we need them now more than ever.

12. This is the nature of my sorrow at Betty's passing. I think she deserved a better final year than 2021 offered.

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