the Centrist

  

Last Sunday was the sixth anniversary of the death of my Mom (Jan. 21, 2001).  As I reflected on her life it seemed funny, the more I thought of her, the more I thought of Dad.  But isn’t that what a good marriage should be all about, after all the two become as one.  I suppose those thought of my Dad occur more often because each time I look in the mirror, my father looks back at me.  Or perhaps because I recently met with my brother and sister (Jim and Pat) … and the four of us reminisced about our parents.  But as Marilyn says: “It isn’t just that you look just like him … lately you even sound like him.”  She is right; I can even hear his voice resound through me.  Dad was a barber in a time when the barbershop was a significant part of local and national politic.  One could debate anything in those corner barbershops in the fifties … nothing was off limits.  But it was politics that ruled.  How he would rail against “the Republicans” for not being honest and not caring about the people.  He would often go on a rant at how the press was in their pockets.  I can just hear him now, “The only thing they care about is getting re-elected.”  Sound familiar?  But even in his skepticism about anything Republican, he would find a way to introduce Sal and I to customers he truly respected.  Funny thing about those customers, they were all what we have come to know as Evangelical Conservatives.  Dad told us that these people not only knew about the bible that they tried to run their business in an honest manner.  Not that he believed any of ‘that stuff’ about Jesus, but he did admire the way they did business. 

            As he grew older he lost his zeal for politics …  said in effect his beloved Democrats had become Republicans, and things had become confusing because now you couldn’t trust the press because they so obviously leaned left … so he had decided to stress what was most important to him … the here after.  Dad had become a Christian after a close brush with death and, to me, nothing short of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.  He developed a strange and unique way of witnessing to all who visited. He would reach into his bible, which was always near by, and rather than quote a verse, he would pull out an obituary of a close friend or relative.  He would tell us something about that man or woman’s life … in effect eulogizing them … and then assure us in his loving manner that we would all have to walk through that same veil of uncertainty … that we would all face death some day.  Next came that wonderful, oh so wonderful smile and then the important thing, his reassurance that we didn’t have to walk through that uncertainty alone … that if we but accepted Jesus into our hearts that Jesus would accompany us. 

Dad and Mom were Roman Catholics by denomination, Christians by faith.  They may not have led any to Christ in an evangelical manner; but they left mighty examples, and certainly spread the seeds of their faith far and wide. Dad reunited with Mom when he died in November of 2005 … November 26^th to be exact, and I miss them both … their smiles, their warmth, but I guess most of all I simply miss them … albeit but for a short time.