Next to the front desk of our retirement community there is a small table. When a resident dies, family members place a photo and some flowers, and sometimes a short description of the resident’s life. I like to see an empty table. But last week, I saw that one of my favorite residents, Harry, had died. HIs photo showed him in a jaunty cap and dark glasses. His family called him a “secular humanist” who wanted nothing more than that his friends support the arts, be politically active and do random acts of kindness. That was Harry for sure.
He was one of the first people I met at my retirement community when we moved in. I was waiting downstairs to get some food to take upstairs for dinner, and I saw him sitting at the counter, head in his hands. He looked pretty sad, so I sat down and started to talk to him. I probably said something like “how are you doing?” and I expected the usual “oh, I’m fine.” But not Harry. He looked up and said, “I don’t know if I can wait until 2020 when Trump is gone.” I knew then that this was a kindred soul, and we struck up a friendship that included many conversations about politics. He was an avid MSNBC Ari Melber fan, a show which he watched as “religiously” as he did anything else. He would tape Ari in the afternoon and sit and watch it later with his glass of scotch in the evenings. The next day we would discuss what was happening and what we thought might be next.
I didn’t know Harry very well. I figure he was close to 90, but he still drove and he went to work at his printing company several times a week. He had been a political activist in his younger years and he always kept up on what was happening in local, state and national politics. My husband and I had planned to go with him to a Chinese restaurant he recommended, but we never followed through. I wish we had.
I am very sorry Harry did not live long enough to see a new President in 2020. But I can promise that if Trump loses, I will drink heartily to Harry the night of the election. And I will not put off plans to get together with people I like and respect, and I will tell those same people how fond I am of them every time I can. They say life is short. For Harry, and many of us, it has not been all that short. But I would like to have an obituary like Harry’s, which exhorts my friends to never give up, appreciate the arts, be kind to others, and above all be politically active!