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Wednesday, May 24, 2006

life and loss

Sometimes I'm not the best at putting the thoughts in my head or feelings from my heart into words. In the last two weeks I have lost two friends... neither was a best friend and there is a lot about both that I didn't know and wouldn't claim to, but I miss both of them. One man was 24 and the other was 79... at 24, Gene's death probably created more shock and questions while Mr. Lee at 79 was admired for his long, productive life. Both men were very different, but just the fact that I have to use the past tense shows one too many similarities. Neither loss is any less significant to the people that knew them. I don't have any answers for the why's or any big sweeping gestures to fill the space that has been left behind. I do have hope that the rest of us can live life big enough to make them proud.

On the other end of the loss spectrum... Oprah did a special with Elie Wiesel at Auschwitz today. I don't think any of us can truly comprehend the loss that occurred during the Holocaust. Even bigger than the number of lives lost during the Holocaust (more than 5 million Jews) are the lessons we can take away from the unthinkable tragedy. Wiesel has said "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference." Let's not be indifferent. Step up and step out. It is so easy to run our lives with blinders on... naive, ignorant and indifferent to the world around us. We have more to give... we have more to be...

To those who lost their lives
We Remember
To those who survived
We Hear You
To the next generations
We Must Never Forget
- the oprah show

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