The sun sets on another day…
This evening as the sun set I finally had the time to watch an except from a reading today. An former president took the podium for his father, a former president. I was moved by emotion, moved by honor, and moved by words as I listened and paid attention to all that was said. You could have head a pin drop as this was said:
“We cannot hope to only leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account,'” Bush said. “‘We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend, a loving parent. A citizen who leaves who home, his neighborhood and his town a better place than when he found it. What do we want the men and women who work with us to say when we are no longer there? That we were more driven to succeed than anyone around us, or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had gotten better and stayed a moment there to trade a moment of friendship.'”
I thought back to a time some 15 years ago when my father died, and of the emotions running rampant in my mind. It was not easy, nor will it be easy for anyone facing the loss of their parent. We can only hope they have given us what we need to survive, more than a few baubles, but strength, more than money but perseverance, more than game systems but time, more than words but advice. Today as I saw a man pass honored by his son I thought not just of him, but if all of us, the legacy we leave our children, and the legacy we leave of ourselves. Perhaps we can leave our children more and help develop more than their possessions, maybe we can help develop their souls.
I wrote about my father here once, but as I searched today I found I had written about him many times. I had and have put him in my thoughts, and made him a key part of my life.
If you have not seen today’s short eulogy, you should. It was not political, nor malicious, charged, judgmental but instead uplifting. It was a son bidding his father farewell. If you are a father or mother, have you laid these powerful foundations? If you are a son or daughter, were these gifts given to you?
So as the sun sets on another day, I think I have said enough but perhaps not done enough. I think I have said what needs to be said today, but perhaps not what needs to be done. Remember, if there were no tomorrow, did you do enough? Think about it and if you sit out of sight watching a funeral from a distance did it mean anything? A lot to consider.
Sleep sweet, love life, and cherish it a little more…