After a little thought, I believe that we could all benefit from this.
I’ll start.
I don’t often have reason to cry but this last Thursday I couldn’t help it. I attended the funeral of a good friend of mine who was killed in a car accident on December 1st while he was on his way back from a Boy Scout activity at a nearby camp. He wasn’t just an ordinary Scoutmaster or adult leader, he was the Council Scout Executive. The head man in charge of all of the goings on in the area. His life was the Boy Scouts of America! When he showed up to take over the council we were in deep financial trouble thanks to the mismanagement of the previous exec. In a few short years my friend turned it all around and started bringing in more money with well thought out plans and programs. He was smart and always fun to be around, a man who had a story for every occasion and who never made a situation awkward. He had a lot of friends as was very evident at his funeral; but they weren’t friends by reputation (knowing of him but never having met him and coming to his funeral out of respect) he helped everyone of those in attendance somehow during his life. Seeing all of them made me realize just how many lives we are all capable of touching.
We were all asked to wear our Scout uniforms to the funeral and when it was done we formed an honor guard as his casket was borne past us. He left behind a wife and two kids.
One of the worst parts of the whole thing was that five weeks ago he had a kidney transplant and was well on his way to recovery.