It was with greater than expected grief that I heard the news of William F. Buckley, Jr.’s death.  I did not know the man personally, and being only 25 years old, I was witness only to his twilight years in the public eye.  However, whatever there was available of his wisdom, I consumed it eagerly.

To see the gradual decline of one’s parents and personal friends is one thing; their availability to us allows us to see them in times of both strength and weakness.  But to see that death touches even the mightiest among us is a bitter blow to the illusion, however comforting, that this world is anything other than a place of passage.
Lawrence Hamtil, Leawood, Kansas