Boswell, the great thinker, philosopher, author, and the biographer of Samuel Johnson often referred to one of the most important days of his life when, as a child, his father took him fishing. He could quote verbatim the things his father said that day and he often referred back to the lessons he learned sitting on the bank of that stream.
After Boswell's death, a student of his who was researching a biography of the great man decided to see if he could find what the father's perspective on that day happened to be. He spent days going through the man's journals until he found the entry for that day. Boswell's father had written a single sentence: "Gone fishing today with my son; a day wasted."
MISS JEAN LOUISE, STAND UP
Never has there been a more perfectly realized father figure than Atticus Finch in Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Most men grow up hoping that when we become fathers we will be as good and faithful as he.
The bulk of the novel is taken up by a trial wherein Atticus, a lawyer, defends a black man who has been falsely accused of rape. Atticus knows that his chances of winning this case are just about nil and that the all-white jury is probably going to convict even in the face of the most obvious and contemptuous lies. So no one -- not Atticus and not the African American folks who are forced to sit in the balcony of the courthouse -- are surprised when the jury came in with a guilty verdict.
In the final days of the trial, Jean Louise, Atticus' daughter, who is known as Scout, has snuck into the balcony to lie on the floor and watch the trial unfold and we see this last scene from her perspective.
With the trial being over, the white people in the courtroom filed out quietly. Finally, Atticus, the last white person, stands, puts his papers in his briefcase, and turns to leave. As he does so, every person in the balcony rises silently in unison and the reverend whispers to Scout: 'Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin'."
Oh, to be a father like Atticus Finch.
RIGHT HERE
In 1982, director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams teamed up to create one of the most dramatic and moving farewell scenes in movie history. Not since Rhett Butler turned and walked away from Scarlet O'Hara did so many movie watchers sigh and cry at the same time.
The movie was ET: The Extraterrestrial and the scene was the last scene of the movie.
We, the audience, have already thrilled and cheered when ET escaped the nefarious government agents by making bicycles fly. We have wept at ET's death and then wept again at his resurrection. The only thing left is his ascension via a giant, shining, humming spaceship and his return to his home -- a return that will be as painful for his friend, Elliot, as it is necessary for ET.
Before he leaves, he reaches out with his glowing finger and touches Elliot's forehead and says, 'I'll be right here."
As the music swells we, too, can feel the touch of that finger and we know that ET is right.
THE LAST LECTURE
Few people have ever said good-bye as effectively or as memorably as Dr. Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
On September 18, 2007, only a month after doctors told him that he had three to six months to live following a recurrence of pancreatic cancer, Randy presented a lecture called "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" to a packed auditorium at Carnegie Mellon.
The moving and often humorous talk recounted his efforts to achieve such childhood dreams as becoming a professional football player, experiencing zero gravity, and developing Disney World attractions. In the process, he shared his insights on finding the good in other people, working hard to overcome obstacles, and living generously.
The video of 'The Last Lecture" appeared on countless websites and was viewed by millions. Appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC's Good Morning America, and the CBS Evening News followed. A book version of The Last Lecture co-written by Jeff Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal (and a fellow Carnegie Mellon alumnus) became a best-seller upon its release.
While millions worldwide were touched by his highly acclaimed lecture, Randy continued battling pancreatic cancer and died of complications at the age of 47.
Dr. Randy Pausch's good-bye to his students had a lasting impact on millions of people. (Source: www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/index.shtml)
THE RED EMINENCE
Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu is known more familiarly to historians as simply, Cardinal Richelieu. He was the second most powerful man in France after King Louis XIV and some say he was more powerful than the king himself.
Consecrated as a bishop in 1608, he later entered politics, becoming Secretary of State in 1616. Richelieu soon rose in both the Catholic church and the French government becoming a Cardinal in 1622 and King Louis XIII's chief minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642.
Often referred to as the king's 'First Minister" or 'Chief Minister," he is considered to be the world's first Prime Minister, in the modern sense of the term. He was successful in consolidating royal power and crushing domestic factions.
Richelieu was also famous for his patronage of the arts; most notably, he founded the Académie Française, the learned society responsible for matters pertaining to the French language. Richelieu is also known by the sobriquet l'Éminence rouge ("the Red Eminence") from the red shade of a cardinal's clerical dress and the style "eminence" as a cardinal.
In 1642 Richelieu died of tuberculosis at the age of 57. His funeral service was to be held in the Sorbonne, which he had founded. He was laid out in all of his regal red and surrounded by thousands of flowers. Thousands came to see his body.
As was the custom, when a cardinal died, a simple, country priest was chosen to say the eulogy. The story is that the old man, dressed in solemn black climbed into the pulpit above the cardinal's body, looked down at his eminence, sighed and said, 'Only God is great."
Then he turned and left the pulpit.
MEMENTO MORI
Ask a historian to tell you the name of the most powerful man who ever lived and most will say, without a moment's hesitation, Augustus Caesar.
He was born on September 23 in the year 63 BCE in the city of Rome.
His father was a Roman senator and his mother was the niece of the emperor, Julius Caesar.
He received a classical education and learned to speak his native tongue of Latin and probably spoke Greek, too, as most educated people did in those days. He excelled at oratory, which Romans believed to be the highest of all the arts and at the age of twelve, he delivered a eulogy at the funeral of his grandfather that so impressed the emperor that he took a special interest in the boy, seeing to his higher education and training.
As the adopted son of Julius Caesar, he alone would emerge from the chaos that followed the terrible Ide's of March when his adopted father was assassinated.
Triumphant over his enemies, he ruled Rome for fifty years and was considered the greatest of all Roman leaders and among the greatest leaders in human history.
Even at that the Roman population breathed a huge sigh of relief at his inauguration. Finally, they hoped, after thirteen years of chaos and civil war there would be stability and growth. And their hopes were rewarded.
Caesar Augustus ushered in what is known as the Pax Romana -- the Roman Peace -- using a doctrine of 'Victory first, then peace." He expanded the borders and the influence of the empire first through military conquest and then through culture and development. To be a Roman protectorate was to speak the Roman language (Latin), read Roman books, study Roman history, worship Roman gods, drink water carried by Roman aqueducts, travel on paved Roman roads, be entertained by Roman art, be protected by Roman legions, and ruled not by the whim of local dictators and governors but by codified and documented Roman law.
Yet, even he was mortal. Whenever he rode in a parade or procession there rode with him or walked beside him a slave whose job it was to repeat, over and over, these two words: "Memento mori."
Remember that thou art mortal.
