Dear Mr. Shields, I just read David Brooks's column on your retirement following the Newshour broadcast this coming Friday, and I need to write to wish you, from deep in my heart, the very best. I have watched the News Hour since 1982, when it was the MacNeil Lehrer Report. I have watched you since GERGEN and Shields. I also was the one who ran into you in a hotel in San Diego some years back while you were trying to order some eggs from the breakfast buffet and thanked you for all you do -- sorry to disrupt you! I am going to miss you. I have always admired your passion, decency, goodness, and humanity. You treated people fairly. You spoke with such clarity about the democratic process, of your conviction that politics can be a force of good. I cannot thank you enough.
This Friday I will tune in again, looking forward to seeing you once more. I will smile, and likely a tear or two will fall down my cheek. You are, Mr. Shields, something special. Thank you again, and best wishes.