Ray

Around the time I moved to my current home--which is going on ten years--an artist whose acquaintance I had previously made passed away. The death was sudden, painless, and without warning: Early the day of his death he informed his live-in housekeeper he was going to his private quarters to take a nap and that she should not disturb him before nine a.m. the next morning.

Wanting to please him, as she always had, she obeyed his demands, and waited until the next day, a few minutes past the appointed hour, to knock on his door and remind him of an appointment he had that day.

Of course he didn't make that appointment.

Because he had made an effort in his life to avoid people and intimate relationships, because he had gone out his way to alienate those who might otherwise prove valuable in his private and personal moments, because he had cultivated a public persona of being rude and meanspirited, few attended his memorial service. Those who did, including myself, were met with something of a shock and surprise: Although he been determined to suggest to the world he was a ratbastard of the worst kind it turned he was quite the opposite: During his lifetime, owing to the fortunes he made by way of his art and careful investments, he had amassed a large sum of money. During his lifetime much of this money was given away, without fanfare or benefit of credit due him. And in his death the sum left to worthy causes eclipsed his previous donations.

That he was a such a generous person in life and death despite his efforts to be portrayed otherwise raised many questions, especially by those who had held the prejudicial opinion they had been wronged by him.

To gain answers to these questions an examination of his life from beginning to end was demanded and when all was said and done, a certain truth came out:

What he did in Life and Death did not matter. What mattered was what resulted from his actions.

Thoughts of this misunderstood soul recently, while watching the film "Ray", a much-acclaimed and most likely much-honored effort at award time forthcoming, and subsequent thoughts about the subject matter of this film, all culminating in one thing: It is not the person who matters, it is what they do that is important. Of course, therein, is a downside, a negative: Rarely, if ever, is a person appreciated for what they do and did until they are gone from our lives.

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