Are Good Deeds and Kindness Enough?
Can I Become a Mensch?
Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 6 seconds
One of my goals has been to become a mensch.
Since Jan died in May 2021, I have focused on finding meaning and purpose.
I walk, read, and help others as much as possible.
Is becoming a mensch in my eighth decade possible?
I know that Jan was a mensch among her many accomplishments.
Perhaps I should accept that being her husband is the best I can achieve.
I often say I am a mensch-in-training, but the truth is that it is a designation achieved by the assessment of others, not by our training to become one.
Although I had prepared the essence of my eulogy in one sentence for Rabbi Renee, I will now modify it by deleting mensch-in-training.
Richard lived fully; he loved Jan and brought her with him by sharing her love; he worked to repair the world
and was a mensch-in-training.
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Although I focused on what I had lost in the initial hours and days after Jan died, the only way forward was to focus on what I gained, not what I lost.
My addition calculation begins with Merrit Malloy's poem Epitaph, which was read at Jan's funeral and will be a part of mine.
Love doesn't die, People do. So, when all that's left of me Is love, Give me away.
