Opinion: Recalling the great journalist Bill Moyers, who enthralled us in Point Loma

It felt like a gut punch in recent times when I learned of Bill Moyers death I had invited him to the Writer s Symposium at Point Loma Nazarene University in and he was deep gracious courageous and funny I was on a hill at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky on a retreat of silence and solitude when I saw the headline on my phone The hill was one of the insufficient places that had cell system I thought about him as I watched the sun go down The reason he meant so much to me is that he was my journalism hero He took on the powerful He gave voice to people on the margins He was our society s Edward R Murrow The play Good Night and Good Luck could have just as easily been about him One of the purposes of journalism in a free society is to speak truth to power Bill Moyers did that better than anyone I know I don t think it s a stretch to call him a prophet for our times When I was in journalism school at the University of Missouri in I wrote him a letter because I was doing a research paper on press secretaries I questioned him a few questions about his time when he was press secretary for President Lyndon Johnson He wrote me a lengthy response I was a nobody and he took me seriously Years later when I invited him to come to the Writer s Symposium I described him that when I came across this message from Flannery O Connor in her book Mystery and Manners it made me think of him The Christian writer does not decide what would be good for the world and proceed to deliver it Like a very doubtful Jacob he confronts what stands in his path and wonders if he will come out of the struggle at all When he read that quote he explained me he decided to cut short his vacation in Mexico and come spend the day with us at PLNU Just before we went on stage for the interview he announced in that beautiful Texas drawl Before you ask me questions I d like to say a inadequate things to the audience Of discipline I declared yes realizing at that moment that he had hijacked the interview It was totally worth it See for yourself in this video of the session Sometimes you just have to get out of the way and let the great ones own the stage I will inevitably be grateful for Bill Moyers Dean Nelson is director of the journalism initiative at Point Loma Nazarene University and hosts the university s annual Writer s Symposium By The Sea Want to submit a letter to the editor guest column or opinion piece Find our guidelines and submission form here