The Nun who directed Tim Russert to Journalism

It was sad to hear this past weekend that Tim Russert from "Meet the Press" left this world, but it was only fitting that he passed doing something he loved.

It was also fitting that he died on father's day weekend, considering his friends have talked about how great of a father he was.

Of all the stories I heard about him, there was one in particular that I thought was pretty cool. A lesson I think many of us could learn from.

When he was young he had a nun as a teacher. Russert said in an interview a while back that he was a kid with a lot of energy. He'd sit in the back of the class goofing around. He was always getting into trouble.

One day, as the school started a newspaper, this teacher came to the little boy with all the energy, and instead lecturing him or otherwise disciplining him as Russert had expected, she named him as the editor of the newspaper.

"I needed to do something to channel his energy," she said in an interview last Friday.

And, as we all know, it worked. Instead of wasting his energy, he focused it on his writing. He became one of the greatest journalists of his generation, and he later thanked that nun and gave her sole credit for showing him the door to a career in journalism.

I think that's the goal of all parents and teachers is to try to point their children in the right direction, and that Nun did just that with Tim Russert. And we have all benefited as a result.

Now as we look back on his life, we are well aware that his passing has left a void that will never be replaced. RIP.