Today, I attended the funeral for a man I didn’t even know. He was the father of a student at my school as well as a leader in the school and community. Even though I didn’t know him, I still felt a deep sense of sadness at his passing. The words of John Donne came to mind:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less… any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and let light perpetual shine upon him. May he rest in peace.