You can Never do a Kindness too Soon

Because you never know how soon it will be too late.

That quotation, wholly contained both in the title and in the first sentence of this Blog post, are exceedingly wise words from Ralph Waldo Emerson. I unfailingly quote that bit of wisdom in every keynote address.

This concept has been top of mind recently, because an old friend, Pam Grayboff, finally succumbed to the scourge of ALS. She battled courageously for well over six years, which is far outside the norm of people who are so brutally afflicted. The vast majority of sufferers pass away within 2 to 5 years of their diagnosis, so Pam was exceptional, in more ways than one.

I featured her story in a chapter titled “Grateful when the world is Hateful,” in my latest book, GRATITUDE TIGER. This chapter tells the story of five individuals who have suffered unimaginably – loss of a child, life-threatening illness, one person in particular who was hit with a cascading series of varied misfortunes. But no individual featured in this chapter showed as much resilience, optimism, and courage as my old summer camp buddy and high school classmate, Pam.

I am grateful that I was able to add a little bit of a distraction for her in a life that became increasingly limited as the years passed and the disease grew more insidious.

Furthermore, I’m grateful I was able to raise or donate a modest amount of money benefiting her pet charity, the Georgia chapter of the ALS foundation.

I know she was grateful that I came back into her life, after her diagnosis, although that statement is a tad inaccurate. The truth is, I was never really in her life. We were nothing more than passing acquaintances for more than 50 years. But when she took ill, it struck a chord in me, I was compelled to reach out, and we maintained extremely friendly relations as the years ensued and the disease progressed.

Finally, despite the sadness of her passing, I’m grateful she is finally free of her earthly bonds, the unyielding stillness to which she was subjected for so long. I like to think she is now enjoying a sunset stroll on a windswept beach.  Or better yet, smacking overheads, delivering sizzling cross court winners on a celestial tennis court in another kinder, more just world.