Blog 3968 – 10.05.2026

A Positive Word

Sometimes a positive word can be quite a challenge. When my dad was a boy in The Great Depression his family moved around a lot looking for work and he said in one small town where they stayed for awhile there was not much to do so he would go to funerals of the town’s residents. Dad said by far the strangest funeral that he ever attended was that of one old fellow who was so cantankerous that he had offended all of his neighbors at one time or another. It was the custom for people at the gravesite to say a few kind words about the deceased. There was an uncomfortably long silence at the gravesite, no one could think of one positive word to say about the departed. Finally one old gentleman spoke up and said, “Ole Joe was a hell of a checker player”And then they all went home.

A sad eulogy indeed for a man who had few positive words for others. May we find more kind and positive words and not just keep them in a jar by the door.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White