Even in his position as chaplain at Princeton, an institution known for its patrician bearing, I never knew him to look down upon anyone. In my visits with him there, everyone seemed to have the same affinity for him. He was known for many things: his avuncular charm, his intelligent, inquisitive demeanor, his distinct, infectious laugh. However, the thing for which I pray my brother will be best remembered is the great gentleness and compassion with which he engaged his family and students.
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Shaykh Ubaydullah Evans: In Memoriam of Imam Sohaib Sultan (4/30/21)
Tuesday, May 4, 2021
From the intro to 100 Poems to Break Your Heart
But poets have always celebrated grief as one of the strongest human emotions, one of our signature feelings.
Implicit in poetry is the notion that we are deepened by heartbreaks, by the recognition and understanding of suffering -- not just our own suffering but also the suffering of others. We are not so much diminished as enlarged by grief, by our refusal to vanish, or to let others vanish, without leaving a verbal record. The poet is one who will not be reconciled, who is determined to leave a trace in words, to transform oceanic depths of feeling into the faithful nuances of art.
Poetry companions us. Poems are written in solitude, but they reach out to others, which makes poetry a social act. It rises out of one solitude to meet another. Poems of terrible sadness and loss trouble and challenge us, but they also make us feel less alone and more connected. Our own desolations become more recognizable to use, more articulate, something shared. We become less isolated in our sorrow, and thus are befriended by the words of another. There is something ennobling in grief that is compacted, expressed, and transfigured into poetry.
Edward Hirsch, 100 Poems to Break Your Heart (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021), xv-xvi.
Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel - 1972 NBC interview filmed few weeks before his death
33:46: "I'd say to young people a number of things: Remember, there is a meaning beyond absurdity, let be sure that every little deed counts, that every word has power, that we can do everyone our share to redeem the world. (...) Remember the importance of self-discipline, study the great sources of wisdom, don't read the best-sellers. (...) Remember life is a celebration. There's much of entertainment in our life (...) but what is really important is life as celebration. The most important thing is to teach man how to celebrate life."
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