So many lovely tributes to a man of great courage whose writing I enjoyed. Never met him, although I am among the many who exchanged email with him about politics and such.
On the page he comes off just the way his friends describe him: clear-eyed, hard-headed, witty, full of humor, gentlemanly and never petty. A generous soul in small-minded times is a breath of refreshment, which he clearly was to so many. As Bill Kristol notes:
I’m struck, reading some of the tributes to Dean tonight, how much he affected not only those who knew him personally, but also many who had corresponded with him, and many who simply knew him through reading him. He touched an awful lot of people, of all ages and types, and touched them deeply.Read about him and delight in the richness of character of a good human person. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.
Update, via American Digest:
At the innermost point of the circle are the things that really matter: family, faith, love. These things stay with you until the day you die. At the very end, because the circle has shrunk down to its center, they’re all you have left. But as we approach that end, we finally realize that all along, they were what mattered most. As a consequence, life often remains beautiful and worthwhile right up until the end.
--Dean Barnett in The Plucky Smart Kid with the Fatal Disease: A Life with Cystic Fibrosis
