The Healing Journey

July 16, 2023

“We bereaved are not alone. We belong to the largest company in all the world – the company of those who have known suffering.”
– Helen Keller

When Peter died, everyone had a story to tell. As they paraded by his wife and daughters at the wake, everyone wanted to share a small piece of their life that he had touched. His family was amazed that even friends from grammar school came to pay their respects. Another woman drove to Connecticut from South Carolina, just to tell his wife and children the influence he had on her life. And there were former coworkers, the members of his church and even the fellow who sold him lottery tickets and assured him every time “this one’s a winner.” But none of them were. It was their standing joke.

After the funeral Mass, at the luncheon the stories continued. Everyone wanted to share. But what struck his wife as so unusual was that their stories were about seemingly inconsequential things. One woman remembered how he smiled at her and told her everything was going to be all right after she got laid off from her job. And when everything turned out all right, it was almost as if Peter had been responsible. Another man couldn’t stop gushing about the letter of recommendation Peter wrote. And there were others.

Peter wasn’t an exceptional person. He won no awards. He received no fame. And yet he had touched so many people with simple acts of kindness. To his family, he was just an ordinary guy, husband and father. And yet all these people had not seen ordinary. They had seen extraordinary.

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Our lives are a pastiche of extraordinary ordinary acts, when done with love.