(photo: wildflowers at Tibet Butler Nature Preserve near MLC HQ. To some it’s a weed to be scorned and eliminated. To others, a beautiful, flowering gift to make us smile.)
My friend died yesterday. One minute she was having a wonderful time with her family, even smiling happily for a photo, and the next she was gone. She was taken from this world by a crazy freak accident that never should have happened. But it did.
Reading the comments that folks made as the news of her death spread, I saw the same sentiment from every one of the hundreds of people who offered their sympathies to her family. Everyone said she was the kindest, sweetest person they had never met; she was someone who always made them smile; a gentle soul with a kind word for everyone.
I thought of the contrast between her and another person I know. This person is avoided by most who know her. She has a habit of telling lies and actually exhibiting criminal behavior at the expense of those whom she perceives to be weak and easily manipulated.
It struck me: how do we want to be remembered by those we leave behind? Do we want to be the person who brings a smile to everyone’s face or do we want to be the person who brings a knot to everyone’s stomach?
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