An Epiphany

I was sitting in church yesterday listening to the speaker's explanation of how loved and admired another individual was. She was a teacher and had influenced a large number of people throughout her life, changing many lives for the better.

How did he find about her momentous influence? At her funeral.

He had received countless letters as well as compliments in person about what a wonderful person this teacher was.

It was then that I realized something ... why do we wait until someone is dead to tell them how much they have meant to us? Wouldn't those letters have served a far greater purpose if the teacher herself would have been able to read them? Wouldn't the smile, handshake and compliment have brightened up her day? What an extra sense of joy and fulfillment of a life well-lived if all of those people would have simply sent in their kind words a few days/weeks/years earlier.

The way it stands now, we've got it backwards. As for me, I hope to do a better job of telling the people themselves, not their next of kin, what they've done for me and how much I've appreciated it.

Just a thought, or rather, an epiphany.