I had tivo'd Anderson Cooper's AC360 Africa show with President Obama and decided yesterday to take a look.

It was unbelievably powerful. Gripping. Devastating to watch.

I had to fast-forward through some of it because I was unable to bear the pain of Anderson describing the horrors of the to-be-slave holding rooms. The hideous, beastly events of the killing rooms. The description of all the lives, families and rightful existence sacrificed for other men's comfort.

I felt the smallness of the doorway those condemned to slavery had to pass through to be loaded onto boats taking them to foreign lands filled with abuse, terror and death.

I saw the gorgeous shore line they would never again enjoy.

It broke my heart.

In the next few hours, I found myself watching another powerful drama unfold as 60 Minutes relinquished its time to a retrospective of Walter Cronkite's life.

In what turned out to be perfect juxtaposition, I found myself, in this next hour, equally undone. 

In awe of Cronkite's courgeous reporting during WWII. Reliving the deep sorrow of his near-tear-filled issuance of  the horrific news that President John K. Kennedy had been assassinated. Witnessing again his reporting of the historic ramifications of slavery in the evil of  the bombings in Selma that took the lives of four beautiful little girls. And, the killing of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cronkite was on the scene to give us blow-by-blow of violence in Chicago and the terrible events of Vietnam.  And, I wonder how he felt when he saw photos of Lyndon Johnson weeping over his pronouncement - in front of all America - that this war could not go on.  (How I wish he had been on the air to say the same of Iraq and Afghanistan).

One thing we know is that Walter Cronkite did not use his power in unseemly ways. Incredibly and unlike most of today's media representatives, he used it responsibly, even-handedly.

Add to those recollections, the wild, joyful emergence of Woodstock and the Beatles.  The Grateful Dead and walking on the moon. Brokering peace deals and meeting with untold numbers of national and world leaders. Laughing with his colleagues.  Sailing into countless gorgeous sunsets that he seemd to endlessly appreciate.

And that's not even half of the story.

Yes, the man led a life.

Perhaps, the thing I am most grateful to Walter Cronkite for is that he lived those 92 years in wholly-unblemished fashion.

Oh, I know he wasn't perfect.  But he was moral beyond measure.  He loved his country and served it unfailingly.  He seemed to have loved his wife the same way.  And his family.  He had a rare and deep humility that balanced his incredible worldwide media power.  He was an honor to his profession.

All told, he lived a deeply meaningful and seemingly fulfilling life while giving all who knew - or knew of - him  comfort, joy, compassion and the news.

Now that's a REAL American Idol.