Gracious Goodness

The last time I wrote a post, it was Fathers’ Day. Today – seven days later – my family is, yet again, one father short. My father-in-law passed away last Tuesday evening.

What a difference a week makes.

He was ninety-one years young and, whilst his body slowly spluttered to a very peaceful end, his mind clearly maintained it’s connection with the world around him. Unfortunately his body just couldn’t keep up.

It’s true that, in his final days, he was not a well man. However, to the very last breath his body could muster, he continued to be a good man.

I say “good,” quite aware that it is a word culturally diluted of its potential moral weight. We’re not talking about a ‘good’ cup of coffee, or a ‘good’ meal; not even a ‘good’ day. The sense of goodness, beyond the superficial or trivial, becomes remarkably transformative when I think of this man.

Authentic goodness, devoid of self-consciousness, was a light that shone on all his family and friends. Whether aware of it or not, it gave us direction and, more often than not, a perplexing sense of purpose. Perplexing because it was often difficult to reconcile the world around me, often self-serving, cruel and uncaring, with a man whose only direction was outward, outside of himself, toward his God and those around him.

And during a week when we remember the events of September 11, 2001, where hate and evil will be examined with great care and precision and yet, I suspect, will continue to remain well beyond our comprehension, I am reminded that goodness can, and often does, rise to the surface, to stand above everything else. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

Rest in peace, Ken. I will miss you.

We all will.