one less good man

As some of my regular readers might know, I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan...this week mostly known as the hometown (and soon to be resting place) of the 38th President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford.

Some may argue that Ford made some wrong decisions while president (authorizing Indonesian oppression in East Timor, the biggest) but I can hardly hold that against him. Nobody in a position of power can always make the right choice. All in all, Ford was a man of integrity, a man of honor, a good guy. As president, he served with the good of the nation (not of his party) in mind; as an ex-president he was equally as impressive.

I just now returned from the procession of his casket not two blocks from my apartment. I half expected to be be the only one there...to my surprise I couldn't walk down the sidewalk. For a mile down both sides of one street people stood two and three deep...I was but one of many. Certainly many were tourists and boy scouts dragged to salute the passing president, but just as certainly there must have been many that were there to honestly honor the man.

I couldn't help but tear up thinking about how much this one man did to warrant such respect from so many. I teared up thinking about how we -- and I -- should all aspire to live in such a way that so many will mourn our passing.