He Left Too Soon

As many of you know, my grandfather, David Weiner, passed away recently. I was in Israel at the time, and when I received the news I was pretty broken up. I understood that he had lived a full and happy life and that death was a natural part of the life cycle, however I was still overcome by sadness. In an attempt to understand my feelings I tried to objectively think about Papa, his life, and the things that made him happy.

Papa took joy in many things. He loved playing and watching sports, sitting outside with a cigar, and above all else he loved his family. A recurring theme over the past weeks has been Papa's quote that while he was not rich in money, he was rich in family. The clearest way that his love manifested itself was Papa's selflessness. To put it simply, Papa was the most selfless person that I have ever known. In so many of my memories Papa is busy doing for other - giving rides, cleaning rooms, cooking, or giving away golf balls - and loving every minute of it. What made his generosity even more special was how incredibly genuine it was. Over the past few years Papa had taken to giving out pocket watches. What began as a small gift to a grandchild or son-in-law quickly escalated so that soon all of the extended family had one of Papa's watches. It wasn't that everyone needed a new watch or that pocket watches were suddenly the new thing; everybody wanted a watch because they understood how much joy Papa derived from giving the gifts and the love with which he gave it was tangible. Accepting a gift from Papa gave you brief access to this absolutely pure love that nobody could get enough of. His generosity didn't stop at his family as he would go out of his way to help people and was a generous tipper.

It was at this point that I came to a beautiful revelation and I understood why I couldn't stop crying when I thought of Papa passing away: Papa, to the core of his very being, was good. He was so pure, and so good that the thought of a world without Papa was just overwhelmingly sad. It was as if the world had lost this wellspring of goodness and love and was now a darker place. His death was not just our loss, but everybody's loss.