We All Leave Something Behind…..
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap ... " Galatians 6:7
I've been reading some historical pieces on Nero, an evil and brutal emperor of Rome in the latter years of the Empire's worldly domination. It is interesting reading, and I came across this parenthetical comment: "We all leave something behind in life ... " It reminded me of a lot of my own past and some of what I've left behind, whether good or bad: events, fortunes, misfortunes, people and all the other stuff that life is made up of. Not that I'm that introspective, which I must admit on occasion I am, especially on full moons, but just as a matter of how things change over time.
In the recent past much has happened in our generation and families, mostly what I'd call "good," and enough of the "bad" to form perspectives of preference. Bill Thau and I discussed last evening after some heavy anesthetization that we could only call it "Good Luck'" but deep down inside I suspect there's more to it than that. Perhaps it has been Providential Destiny or, for you farmers, a "reaping" of the past sowing of the last generation.
My wife Carolyn and I exchanged thoughts over coffee today on how much of the past, especially with respect to friends, has been like "another life." Roads forked, people moved, and things changed. What we've left behind we'll probably never really know. We speculated how things might have been different if we hadn't used so often such words common to our language: "Why me or us… " and "If only ... ", and "But.. .. " Truly idle words that limit what we do and think (and in my way of thinking, things might be better if we dropped the use of these words altogether).
I included a quote several weeks ago from Chief Justice Holmes that has stuck with me like this heat wave: ''It is imperative that we share 'our life and passion with our generation, at the peril of being judged not to have lived." That reminds me that it's every day that we leave something behind, for better or worse, depending on the attitudes we hold dear.
Today I am leaving y'all behind, so to speak, as I head north to eat from my brother's table in his new home in Highlands, NC. .. about time he paid me back for what I've left behind for him! I'll be back before you even know I'm gone, so don’t despair! And I am not leaving you comfortless, but in excellent hands with Mr. Gruber (Renn on all other days but Friday) and Chef Mike and Vanessa.
Bud
August 23, 2007
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