Because...

...there are a lot of people I love who are hurting today, here's something I want to repost because my friend joegoda said it so very well. I don't think a reminder to be more loving is ever out of order.

I'd commented to his post, "We just lost a really good one and the sad thing for me is that I missed chances to get to know her better. My loss. Crap, that sounds selfish, doesn't it? But it's part of dealing with a sudden loss; how it'll impact the self."

He replied with this that made me both cry and smile:

"And what, when it comes to loving someone else, can be considered selfish? If it is selfish to want to know someone to the depth and breadth of them, then may I be forever selfish. If it is selfish to care and to be compassionate and to want to make another soul part of your life and to take their life and make it a chapter in your own, the may I be forever selfish. May all of us be so incredibly selfish as to find themselves wanting to know, to understand and to love everyone else that can be loved and understood.

I did not even have a passing aquaintance of your friend. That does not mean that I'm so unselfish that I don't share your pain even to the small degree I can. My thoughts, heart, and song be with you, with her, with her loved ones and family."

Amen, my dear brother.