A Meta-Eulogy for Warren
“Life is painful. Suffering is optional.” Says Sylvia Borstein.
“What trouble? Life is trouble. Only death is no trouble.” – Zorba the Greek.
“Death is life.” – a Viking warrior.
Whatever the pain, Warren chose not to suffer. Despite the trouble, Warren did his best work. Faced with hardship and difficulty, Warren rode it out with humor and lived with joy.
In a beautiful eulogy, Amy already told about Warren the wonderful man. Let me share with you how well he lived up to the end, and how he made those of us around him live better in the process.
For the past year, the four extended families here got together every couple of weeks for delicious meals of Warren’s choosing. We talked and we listened to one another—not because of how good we were to Warren, but how good he was to us.
Warren defied all the medical prognosis of miserable pain, nausea, and anorexia— symptoms notoriously common and severe for his diagnosis. Oh, he'd take a Tylenol once in a while, mostly just to humor us, I think. And he savored all his favorite food and wines—up to the very last bite of his choice dessert that Catherine served to his lips. After saying his tender goodbye, Warren drifted into a peaceful sleep before drawing his final breath with Catherine right by his side.
The dying process is the impending darkness that makes every sunset all the more glorious. Death itself is the night sky that enables us to see the brilliance of the stars. Such is the Yin-and-Yang, the give-and-take of life and reality.
So, farewell, Warren. We will take the pain—and keep the love.
Tak 3/17/2022
