Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Randomness - A Neighbor Died

A neighbor of mine passed away. I didn't know him or her, didn't see the obit in the paper and know one told me. But I noticed the stream of cars rolling into the neighborhood. All makes and models, expensive cars and daily drivers, in each a suit, a tie, a dark dress. Grim faces in the middle of a rainy Monday.

20 years ago I would have known; who, how, why, when, but Charlotte has become a transit city people come and go, lives move on. Six homes on my street are for sale, six more have turned over in the last year. I know a handful of neighbors, most of those I don't know anything more than their names. Many I know only by the names of their dogs.

And so it goes, that I'm reminded of this passage from author Bill O'Reilly on the death of JFK:

Most people live their lives as if the end were always years away. They measure their days in love, laughter, accomplishment, and loss. There are moments of sunshine and storm. There are schedules, phone calls, careers, anxieties, joys, exotic trips, favorite foods, romance, shame and hunger. A person can be defined by clothing, the smell of his breath, the way she combs her hair, the shape of his torso, or even the company she keeps.

All over the world, children love their parents, and yearn for love in return. They revel in the touch of parental hands on their faces. And even on the worst of days, each person has dreams about the future - dreams that sometimes come true.

Such is life.

Yet life can end in less time than it take to draw one breath.

Killing Kennedy - Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

And so it goes, indeed.

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