What started out as a lesson in church history soon became a story. A story about two men who meant a great deal to many people and to the lives they continue to touch. Never take lightly what they have or have not done. However quantifiable, their contributions should be counted amongst the stars and recollected with sublime regularity.
Take my father, George, and Dr. Lester Huber,
both of them born in an age when everyday life was a struggle. They did not tend to worry about riches or
fame but concentrated on family, friends and on what would make others seem fulfilled.
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the
one less traveled, and that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost. One, off to war and a working class member
and the other beginning his long and distinguished career as an educator. How are they so linked? It turns out that Dr. Huber was teaching at
Central High School about the same time as my father was in his senior
year. Did they know each other, one a
Lutheran, one a Catholic? Did they
realize at the time what different paths their lives would take? One thing is certain. Both were believers in God and in His
commandments to grace, humility, charity and duty. Such ordinary people seem never to be
recognized, but for some, their actions take on a life completely of their own.
Dr. Huber was an accomplished educator, whose
resume includes a long professorship, establishing a scholarship fund with his
wife Lillian at Capital University, contributions to the arts and sciences and
his commitment to his family and most importantly, his faith and church. My father, on the other hand, was a working
man, a former soldier. He was also
involved with his faith and his community.
Busy with a family of ten, to him his children were his greatest
accomplishment, reward and treasure. By
his efforts to love God first and by practice to this devotion, he is set no
more or less on par with Dr. Huber.
Each of us contributes in ways we cannot imagine. We touch the lives of so many people. Everything we do seems to affect the lives of
all those around us and to people we have never nor will ever know. Six degrees of separation work as our
existence is so intertwined. Time itself
seems distant from reality. Our lives
cross paths so frequently. We believe
differently but we pray, we love and we care much the same way. We all feel a calling to be someone we were
destined to be. Let our faith separate
our fate and bring us closer to salvation and let our destinies give us courage.“Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ's power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind. Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows "what is in man". He alone knows it.” – Pope John Paul II.
Memorialize our families, the husbands and wives of heroes so long removed and remember those still with us in this world. By paying respect to men like Dr. Huber and my father George – we pay respect to the one true creation.
These men know that someday they might leave this world as insignificant as they had entered it – with a whisper, in the quiet of the night. For “they shall grow not old, as we are left to grow old - age shall not weary them nor the years condemn - at the going down of the sun and in the morning - we will remember them.” - Lawrence Binyon. We come together, never to grow old again, in the face of God, eternally grateful for our time here on earth and in our willingness, however slight or grand, to make a difference.
May you feel the gentle breath of the Holy Spirit, may you never stray too far from home and may His peace be with you, always.
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