Remembering the Weiser

It has been a few days now since I heard about the passing of my friend Lee Weiser. We were UNIS high school friends that became closer on social media. Lee was dealing with complications of diabetes and after seeing what happened to my mother I knew how serious this could be.

Lee, like my mother, complained about inadequate care and what was seemingly a lack of a coherent form of science in dealing with diabetes more generally.

Lee also seemed to be pondering his complicated relationship with his father. I gave him some advice via Facebook and we had an amazing exchange.

This morning I kept wondering why instead of writing to him, knowing that he was in the hospital and struggling, I just didn’t simply pick up the phone and call. I think Lee would have appreciated that, but I didn’t do it. I thought about it, but I didn’t do it.

For some reason, this forced me this morning to think about all the calls I should’ve made, all the people I should’ve gotten to know so much better and didn’t. I see life now as nothing more then shared memories with people that you come to love, or who are willing to share a part of their lives with you.

It turns out that life actually has no meaning except the meeting you give to it. Part of that meaning inevitably lies in sharing part of your life with someone and in having someone share part of their life with you.

For all the people we have lost in our lives that we didn’t take the adequate time to know, this is the biggest loss to any of us when they pass on.

It is so sad to think that we have lost three beautiful people from our high school class, Lee Weiser, Michelle Stern, and Christopher Cooper who left us so early. I wish I had gotten to know all of them so much better and shared so many more memories with each one of them. God gave all three of them everything except length of years.

There is a proverb from my part of the world that says a person dies twice: the first time when they pass, and the second time when their name is last spoken. Their names were spoken today and I hope that many of my high school friends will join me in doing the same. For me, their names were spoken in Rabat Morocco. Maybe some of you can take a second also to remember them where ever you maybe in the world right now.

I’m sorry Lee that I didn’t make the call. This was the least I could have done. God bless you from Rabat. God bless you always.