The words of a schoolteacher of mine from many many years ago resonate for me. “We read the obituaries not to learn who died but to learn about those who lived.”
I read the obituary of Haim Gouri, an Israeli poet, journalist, novelist, and filmmaker who died last week at the age of 94. He was a voice from the founding of the State of Israel.
The words of one of his early poems ring profound.
“And there, those in the right fire on the others in the right.”
The New York Times reported that Gouri said that this was the most important line he had ever written in his life.
Profound words. How fitting in these times.