Yesterday, our extended family said a formal goodbye to Mac Adamson.
Mac, just a few days short of his 99th birthday and his 10th anniversary of marriage to my mother, Dorothy, decided last week that his journey was completed. Fortunately, I was able to spend a little time in conversation with him the day he moved on.
After yesterday's service and witnessing the transforming power he had on my Mom's life over the past decade I was both thankful and fearful. Thankful because he had shared himself so willingly with my Mom and showered her with kindness, patience and perhaps the most genuine love I have witnessed. Fearful because I wonder if his passing brought to a close an era when a true gentleman could survive and prosper.
Don Henley (of the Eagles) asked in one of his great songs, "How can love survive in such a graceless age?"
Henley clearly never had the opportunity to meet Mac Adamson as he would have discovered the answer. It is that love can survive in this graceless age only when someone as selfless as Mac makes the conscious decision to shed showers of patience and understanding to all who came in contact with him. Without any sense of self-absorbed pride Mac taught us that a legacy is created not through monetary, boastful acts but by living every day according to well-learned principles of faith, hope and love.
When Lawrence Lovasik wrote "A gentleman has his eyes on all those present; he is tender toward the bashful, gentle toward the distant, and merciful toward the absent," he could have been using Mac as his template.
Mac, I am only sorry that I didn't have more time in my life to benefit from your gentle character, to revel in your quiet yet rich sense of humour, and to learn to bring into my own life the transforming power of love. Especially in such a graceless age.
Gone. But never forgotten.
R.I.P. Mac.
And a special note to his son Murray and daughter Barb: thank you for sharing your very special Dad with me, my wife and my sons Gabriel and Samuel. Your Dad's last conversation with me revolved around ensuring that Gabriel received the last coin jar Mac collected. Bless you all.
Mac, just a few days short of his 99th birthday and his 10th anniversary of marriage to my mother, Dorothy, decided last week that his journey was completed. Fortunately, I was able to spend a little time in conversation with him the day he moved on.
After yesterday's service and witnessing the transforming power he had on my Mom's life over the past decade I was both thankful and fearful. Thankful because he had shared himself so willingly with my Mom and showered her with kindness, patience and perhaps the most genuine love I have witnessed. Fearful because I wonder if his passing brought to a close an era when a true gentleman could survive and prosper.
Don Henley (of the Eagles) asked in one of his great songs, "How can love survive in such a graceless age?"
Henley clearly never had the opportunity to meet Mac Adamson as he would have discovered the answer. It is that love can survive in this graceless age only when someone as selfless as Mac makes the conscious decision to shed showers of patience and understanding to all who came in contact with him. Without any sense of self-absorbed pride Mac taught us that a legacy is created not through monetary, boastful acts but by living every day according to well-learned principles of faith, hope and love.
When Lawrence Lovasik wrote "A gentleman has his eyes on all those present; he is tender toward the bashful, gentle toward the distant, and merciful toward the absent," he could have been using Mac as his template.
Mac, I am only sorry that I didn't have more time in my life to benefit from your gentle character, to revel in your quiet yet rich sense of humour, and to learn to bring into my own life the transforming power of love. Especially in such a graceless age.
Gone. But never forgotten.
R.I.P. Mac.
And a special note to his son Murray and daughter Barb: thank you for sharing your very special Dad with me, my wife and my sons Gabriel and Samuel. Your Dad's last conversation with me revolved around ensuring that Gabriel received the last coin jar Mac collected. Bless you all.
1 comment:
What a beautiful legacy that Mac has left behind. There are people in our lives who make a difference, by being different or doing things differently. That's the beauty of the choices that we have in our life. Mac's choices gave rise to a wonderful life and a great role model for family and friends. By sharing this story, I know I've been inspired to make a difference. I'm sure others have, too. Thank you.
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