Friday, July 31, 2020

John Robert Lewis

I like funerals. I like the raw emotion and the simple gestures.  I like the well told stories and the shared, rueful, laughter.  I like the occasional token - an angel coin from a young mother's service, the green satin ribbons we took from Grandpaw's casket - as well as the memories.  I like the remembrance of a life well-lived, if cut short before we were ready to say goodbye.

Funerals are a story telling time - how he met his wife, what he wore as he crossed the Edmund Pettis bridge - and that, too makes me smile.  They're old stories, or stories to be told only after I'm gone, and they always shine a light on a particular piece of the human spirit.  Joy or kindness, erudition or compassion, the teller wants us to know that about the deceased, and will stand, choking back tears, until the story is told.

Pericles and Antony and Abraham Lincoln were joined by Sheila Lewis O'Brien this afternoon.  She spoke of her Uncle Robert with such love, such delight, such passion that the tears rolled down my smiling cheeks.  The Presidents and others spoke truths and exhorted us to remember that  Democracy is not a state. It is an act.

I spent the day enjoying Congressman Lewis's life story.  It healed the hole in my heart created by our current situation, at least just a little.  He had such faith, such determination, such focus.  His funeral reminded me of all that is possible, of all that is necessary, of all that we can be.

Rest in peace, John Robert Lewis.  May your memory be a blessing.

6 comments:

  1. I love the stories told at funerals of well-lived people. This was one of them. I've been saddened during pandemic that many funerals have been postponed. Stories we will never get to hear...

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    1. This was a good one, indeed. I loved the family stories.
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  2. If a funeral can be considered "good" John Lewis' was the best. I'm glad he picked the three presidents who had the grace and ability to tell the stories.

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    1. Grace and Ability --- two things sorely lacking in 45.
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  3. Thank you for this post. I never thought to "like" funerals before, but you are right. the story telling is wonderful, and OH, did John Lewis have stories to be told.

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    1. Sitting in a room filled with people who are equally sd helps me, immensely. I like the love sent towards the deceased and the sharing of hugs for those left behind. I'm not a fan of looking in the casket, but looking back on a life is different.
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