The Cellar - On Being Part of Something

I attended a funeral this week for a guy I already had respect for, then I listened to his community and was truly amazed. He always had his hand in something outside his own work. He had this vision of himself as part of the flow of history rather than observing from the outside. I don't know what confluence of forces made him a joiner and a doer but his impact on peoples lives was amazing in its scope.

He was a Boy Scout as a kid, but naturally he became an Eagle Scout. He was a Navy guy, then a big business drone, then a small businessman. His progression was that sort of idealized American dream the Republican Party used to represent. He was a wheel in the GOP, attempting to preserve that dream.

He was a long standing Rotary member and officer in two very active chapters. He helped build schools in Honduras as one of many charitable activities. He was a choir member and officer in his local church helping to guide it through an extremely difficult time as they recognized the lifestyles of their gay members. This was quite a step for someone as conservative as he was, but speaks to his fundemental fairness.

He was a Christian who embraced his Jewish in-laws and eventually the Jewish roots of his own faith. I wanted to explore his religious beliefs this summer since he wasn't a bible thumper preferring reason to received wisdom. I'm guessing he saw church as part of the tapestry of community even if it often lacked a foothold in reality. Unfortunately, I'll not get that from the horse's mouth. The gift he gave me was the question he always asked when my or anyone elses musings slid too far afield. "You don't really believe that, do you?"

In this time of macro-economic disturbance it is good to reflect on the power of a hard-working individual to lift a community.