Life flows and ebbs like the sea

Death really can upset your day and throw your plans asunder.

I got up this morning after my typical lousy sleep, switched on the coffeemaker and then my computer, in my usual fashion. Then the coffee can be ready for when Wendy arises and I will be abreast of what is happening in the world – especially ‘my’ world.

One of the first things to hit my eye was an email message titled ‘How sad.” I felt my heart skip a beat. The two words were both cryptic and powerful. Something bad had happened overnight. My first thought was, especially after the Inauguration hoopla yesterday, was that something evil had happened to the Obamas, God forbid.

But, it was closer to home. Somebody had died. A friend. A friend not so very much older than I. This guy was also a politician. In fact, he was a high-ranking politician in BC government and was, in fact, a long-time member of cabinet.

So, I knew him as a politician. He was a good one who served his constituents well. Sometimes I agreed with him politically and other times, contrarian that I am, I thoroughly disagreed with him and couldn’t support certain stances that he assumed. That’s OK. He understood, that is in the nature of the political racket. I am cynical about politicians and politics. This fellow, on the other hand, lived and breathed the game.

But, my acquaintanceship with him, and unbeknownst to many others, was also at a much deeper level. At a time of unremitting personal woes more than a dozen years ago, this man reached out to me in friendship and support. He didn’t need to. He had nothing to gain by so-doing. His gesture was unexpected, and that is the best sort of gesture. It is also the mark of a genuine caring human being. I cherished what he did, and cherished the words he expressed to me. Indeed, they gave me more hope than a lot of the hollow platitudes that were passed my way at the time.

I have never forgotten what he did, and never shall. When friends and acquaintances would speak with disdain of something he had or hadn’t done as a politician, I would always say: “He was very good to me at a bad time in my life, and that really counts a great deal.”

And now he’s dead. Just like that. Massive heart attack took him out very quickly. That, in itself, is good.

His death isn’t. Right now I am trying to get my head around it. Throws a fellow’s other plans for the day all to hell.