John Berthoud

This put a damper on my day to say the least. John had actually emailed me the other day to see if I was attending a party he was throwing this Saturday. I really liked him and we had a lot of similar interests. We met at the Washington DC premiere of this movie back in September 2004 and talked about our mutual disappointment in the Republican party's spending habits, our hopes for a successful outcome in Iraq and experiences traveling in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain. I also attended an election night viewing party at his house last year -- as I recall no one really cried when the GOP got wiped out. Really interesting, genuinely nice guy. And, contrary to what the article says, he was only 45 years old. He passed way before this time.

I think the lesson here is to never take for granted the people around you.