Authenticity

In an earlier post, I wrote about life according to Stephen Colbert.  That post quoted a NY Times article which stated:

In 1974, when Colbert was 10, his father, a doctor, and his brothers Peter and Paul, the two closest to him in age, died in a plane crash while flying to a prep school in New England. “There’s a common explanation that profound sadness leads to someone’s becoming a comedian, but I’m not sure that’s a proven equation in my case,” he told me. “I’m not bitter about what happened to me as a child, and my mother was instrumental in keeping me from being so.” He added, in a tone so humble and sincere that his character would never have used it: “She taught me to be grateful for my life regardless of what that entailed, and that’s directly related to the image of Christ on the cross and the example of sacrifice that he gave us. What she taught me is that the deliverance God offers you from pain is not no pain — it’s that the pain is actually a gift. What’s the option? God doesn’t really give you another choice.”

In a more recent article in GQ, Colbert talked even more explicitly about grief and suffering.  He stated: 

“It was a very healthy reciprocal acceptance of suffering,” he said. “Which does not mean being defeated by suffering. Acceptance is not defeat. Acceptance is just awareness.” He smiled in anticipation of the callback: “ ‘You gotta learn to love the bomb,’ ” he said. “Boy, did I have a bomb when I was 10. That was quite an explosion. And I learned to love it. So that's why. Maybe, I don't know. That might be why you don't see me as someone angry and working out my demons onstage. It's that I love the thing that I most wish had not happened.”

"I love the thing that I most wish had not happened."  Those are remarkably insightful words that capture the essence of life since JW died -- that somehow through unimaginable suffering it is possible to nonetheless learn what it takes to live an authentic life.  I am thankful for the opportunity -- I try in my imperfect way to fulfill the challenge presented by circumstances beyond anyone's control -- yet I would give anything for those circumstances to be different.  Crazy -- isn't it?  But it does make perfect sense.  I love the thing that I most wish had not happened.

The essence of a truly authentic life was there for all to see last week when Colbert interviewed Vice President Joe Biden on the Late Show.  Biden’s avocation as a politician has often been to tell military families who have lost loved ones in battle that it’s possible to emerge from the other side of grief. Biden was a witness to this after he lost his wife and daughter in a car accident over 40 years ago. Now Biden is back with those grieving families again having lost his son, Beau, to a brain tumor. This time Biden isn’t a prophet from the other side but in an unimaginable twist of fate he is walking with them in fresh mourning. 

If you haven’t had the opportunity, take the time to watch two earnest and authentic men talk about faith, suffering, and making sense of it all.  Some of my favorite quotes from their conversation include:

“Faith sees best in the dark.”

“What’s the use of being Irish if you don’t know that life is going to break your heart.”

 “You know you’re a success when your child turns out better than you.”

In that vein, I am a tremendous success since I have been blessed with three children, all of who are better than I was at their age.

Watch and learn: