> My grandmother was not just the kind, religious, music-loving matriarch of
> my father's side of the family, she is her family and everything she taught
> them. She lives on because she changed everyone that knew her. She is
> literally in the values instilled in us and the interests conferred
> to us. I take comfort knowing that the world is (and will continue to
> be) a better place because she lived.
I agree quite strongly with this as well as the other points that you
raised, David. My grandmother died several years ago and she was quite
important to me. I would even sit through church services (a torture
that I was sure was over three hours long but now realize was only an
hour) so that I could go and visit her.
She was one of the few adults
that related to me on a rational level rather than the Parent-Child
attitude. I believe that many of the things that she taught me live on in
me and I sometimes try to evaluate myself from her perspective. She lives
on in my thoughts and through the ways that I deal with others (the more
positive ways). In the network of human relations the repercussions of
actions are difficult to quantify but I believe she helped to make me
a better and more rational human being. I think that that is a rare and
precious gift that should not be underestimated.
It is often said that those that put rationality on a pedestal minimize
the validity of emotion. I do not agree with this. I think that seekers of
reason, for the most part, are looking for the underlying source of their
emotions in order to better understand them and not be completely at the
mercy of the emotions of the moment.
Duane