Death Comes for Sinner and the Saint

I am going to a funeral tonight. That is not such great news. Is it because it is death or is it because it is a reality we must face? I am not sure. I know that this man is four years older than me. He never kept himself in any semblance of shape. He did not work out. He overate. He was constantly suffering from diseaseas that might have been self imposed by his weight problem. He had a wife and three kids. I knew them all. So what is the big problem?

This man was a member of AA. He at least tried to get his life together. He helped others. He tried to overcome the disease of alcoholism.

Overcoming that, in iteself is a major accomplishment. It is one of the few diseases that says you don't have the disease that you know you have. Denial is one of its symptoms. So the man overcame that obstacle and went on to do good works and simply ate himself into an early death. Maybe not. His wife was a little whack. She argued with him. She yelled at him. And when she was not sick, she found sicknesses to get. She was a hypochondriac. I am not saying this to be mean. And these are not the observations of a hater trying to put people down. If this simple man had these kinds of problems what does it take to make it in this world and waylay death as my grandmother did for 101 years?

I ask you to think of these things because there is an inherent difficulty in doing what we want to do naturally, which is to survive and continue to live. And that means, not being concerned about the superficial stuff like, "Do I look good?" or "Should I eat one more piece of this pizza?", but being concerned with the core principals of this life, " Should I help my fellow?" "Did I give my all on this thing that is important to me and my family?" I think this guy did those latter, important things, but he still died. So, the only lesson is to trudge on.

This is not some new and fantastical discovery, but a task that must be realized as we put another human into the ground. The only real thing we have is to keep on keeping on. That is not much when you think about it, but it is so much more important than what we are wearing, how we feel, and what the weather is like today. Trudge your road of happy destiny, Mr. Len, and remember that all that arrive here must arrive there.