"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
With this morning's news of government employee malfeasance[1] and the shamelessly brazen behavior of elected officials[2] it would be easy to give free rein to winter darkness and the cynical feelings it breeds. After a brief renewal of my ongoing internal struggle with despair over the human condition I decided that rather than allowing small people to waste my time and attention I would concentrate it instead on someone who did something positive and improved the world.
Tom White was a founder and backer of Partners In Health. He died earlier this month. His friend Paul Farmer gave a wonderful eulogy that I encourage you to read in full[3].
Tom was a great man by conventional criteria but mistrusted, most of his life, these criteria. He was, as has been noted far and wide, a successful businessman who mistrusted the trappings of wealth and served as a model for spreading it around. He was a Harvard graduate who by his own account didn’t study much; a decorated soldier who was at heart a pacifist; a successful businessman who relied on generosity and trust in all his dealings; a devout Catholic who acknowledged crises of faith and knew the sharp limitations of all human institutions; and a family man with a large family here in this city and, thanks to his family’s willingness to share him, scattered throughout the wide world. . . Nothing made him happier than fixing a problem, but there were some he could not fix, and he confronted these too. When he could not save a life, or ease a loved one’s pain, he was still left with his ministry of showing up.
One of the many examples I should learn from Tom White's life is that even if I can't solve a problem I can still show up. Even if the situation is difficult, or it's awkward and I don't know what to do, I guess I can hold a hand at least as as well as the next person and be there.
1 - Democrat and Chronicle (David Damelio charged $3,988 at N.Y.C. strip club)
2 - Democrat and Chronicle (State Sen. James Alesi suing over fall at unfinished home)
3 - Partners in Health (He restored our faith in faith itself.)
