Anne Pressly was 26 years old. She worked in TV news in a small/mid-sized market which allowed her to rise to a fairly coveted position, full time morning news anchor, at a young age. She also happened to be great at her job, which is always a big help.
I use the past tense because Anne Pressly passed away last night. The world might have only known her in the moment for the very brief and uncredited role she picked up in the movie “W.” Anne was in Shreveport, LA covering the making of the movie, and director Oliver Stone picked her out to play a small snippet of conservative pundit Anne Coulter. Pressly proved that even in 2008, you can be discovered sitting at a soda shoppe.
Unfortunately, the world knows her as the Little Rock TV reporter who was attacked and beaten in her home, barely six days ago as I am writing this. Working in a radio news room, we were all stunned as my reporter co-worker and former co-worker's of Anne's read the police report that was fax over to us describing crime scene, and the first mention on television we saw was about 15 minutes later as Tony Harris on CNN gave about a 8 second breaking news line that sounded random and had no linking information, other than her station was a CNN affiliate.
Six days later, Anne is gone. Today, seven days later, there will be a lot of sadness with more to come. It's Sunday, so there will probably be large attendance at churches here in Little Rock, and probably the country, of people praying for Anne's family. The massive world-wide coverage of this story and the explosion of attendees to candlelight vigils and activity on online forums boggles my mind personally, but to those who knew Anne, it is no surprise. It may sound cliché, but Anne Pressly was truly one of those 'sweet girls.'
In life, there is a lesson to be learned in everything, and this is a prime example. You time on this planet is not guaranteed, and you will have no advanced knowledge of when it will ultimately be up. Get out in the world and make an impact, and do it now. Then keep doing it as much as you possibly can. Some will be able to 'give' more gifts than others, some will have larger gifts, some will just be able to show there light just by there presence.
Anne Pressly's parents have announced that they will be donating their daughter's organs. Knowing a few people who received life saving organ donations, I can truly say that Anne will definitely live on in the hearts and minds of those who will receive those precious gifts. More importantly, even after have such a random tragedy befall her, Anne Pressly still gets to have a positive impact into someone's lives.
Anne Pressly is gone to soon. There is no telling what kind of impact she could have had as a reporter or a person if she had lived another 50-years...or just one more day. Don't let a quick moment of inspiration pass you. If you are moved to act on anything at anytime, then act. If it’s not a simple as stepping up to the plate, then get started on a plan of action. Just do something.
Welcome to my new blog. This is where I will chronicle the next phase of mis-adventures of my life. Thank you for staying on the ride, and for you newcomers to the inside of my mental mania, I will do my best to make sure the trip is both entertaining and educational.
Life In Fast Forward: The Blog is still a bit of a work in progress. Keep checking in for new posts and site updates.
About Blog
This blog supports some of the thoughts and interjections from the folks at Fast Forward Business Properties. Our ideas, things we test, and a few random thoughts will show up here.
Name: J. Cleveland Payne
Home: Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
About Me: News is my profession, so it only fits that I am a news junkie. I'm a radio show/segment producer for a news/talk radio station in Little Rock, Arkansas.
