A Little Bit Goes A Long Way

I went to a funeral last week. Before you get too sad on my behalf, it was for someone I had not seen in over 50 years. We had gone to grade school and high school and I had not seen him since. Perhaps he came to a reunion, but I have no memory of a subsequent meeting.

His obituary was well done. Something I admire as an Irish person. It was interesting to read about the life he created in those 50 plus years. He had become an historian and curated two collections of Arizona history. That sounded like a path I would have enjoyed as well and had a momentary wishful, “Gee, wish I’d known” which passed quickly. He left behind a wife and two children.

The service was at my childhood church and had it not been over 100 degrees that afternoon I could have walked. I figured I would run into some others from our childhood and teen years which would count as a “reunion” thus insuring I do not have to ever attend another one. My assumption was correct.

His daughter spoke. She did a lovely job through her tears and represented a wonderful dad, loving husband, great friend. The kind of guy that kept his friends together and continued to put the fun into the relationships.

She described perfectly the reason I chose to attend this funeral. He had been kind. Kind to me from sixth grade through high school. Kind when the majority of kids I encountered were not. Kind and funny whenever our paths crossed. That is a huge compliment for an adolescent boy. His presence in a class made me feel a bit more secure if not safer. I knew I could look across the room, and his smile would meet my gaze. He too had a sense of the bizarre and silly that rivaled mine.

That was it. Six years of knowing someone beginning over sixty years ago. I told his daughter that the reason I was there was because he was kind so long ago. She smiled and said it was the one thing he instilled in her and her brother. He had told her the world needed kindness.

It was a wonderful reminder for me that you never know how a bit of care or kindness changes someone’s world. That smile you give across a room. The hand you extend when you see a need. A hug given because you sense it might help. Or just a look that says, “I get it.”

The encounter was brief, but the impact was lasting. To quote the song, “Try a little tenderness” and share a smile with someone soon.