It wasn't just celebrities departing this life in the last few days. We look at them, think we know them, and mourn their passing as if they were integral parts of our daily lives - but they're not. On the other hand, every day, somewhere close, someone dies who actually is in some way integral to someone's life.
I found out today, that one of my former co-workers died this past Saturday. His name was Jack Cowart.
Jack was an idiosyncratic man, and to say that he was generally well-liked would probably be testing the elastic limits of the the truth. Nonetheless, he was part of many lives, at least in my former workplace. My interactions with him often revealed a prickly, overly meticulous personality, with a chip on his shoulder. Others have told me the same thing. At the same time, if he considered you a friend, he was loyal to a fault, and often the first to volunteer when something needed doing.
We all have qualities that are unappreciated (or more to the point, detested) by others. I won't attempt to catalog them here, but I recognize a few in myself. In spite of all that, I know that when I leave this earth, there will be those who miss me, and the things they found good in me.
Isn't it tragic that we find it so difficult to tell people, while they live, what it is we treasure about them? I never told Jack, and I don't think many others did, either. I am profoundly sorry for that. Self-flagellation won't bring him back, though, nor will it bring back the opportunity to make him feel good about his part in my life. At this point, all I can do is try to avoid missing any more opportunities with those I have left in my life.
Mariner
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