Often, we don’t fully appreciate a person until they are gone…in this case, meaning deceased.

Take for example the death of a famous person who was also a philanthropist. When they die, it’s all over the news…the movies they made…how they were a sex symbol…the awards they received…or the books they wrote…

But what strikes me is the discovery of how much someone did for humanity or for the betterment of the world. Sometimes I find myself saying, “Oh I didn’t know s/he did all that” and then I feel sad about not having paid more attention to his/her charitable work.

So it got me to thinking…shouldn’t we be appreciating people more NOW…before they are dead!

Can’t we look beyond the everyday nonsense of celebrities attending a nightclub, or a movie premiere, or giving birth, or whatever…and celebrate their adoption of destitute children, or their huge donations to charities, or maybe their opening of a camp for sick children or for the disabled or for the elderly, or their assistance to inner city youth, or their improvement of the environment…

And all that leads me to my final thoughts—shouldn’t we celebrate the people in our life: our spouses…our children…our extended family…our friends, and so on, for the acts of kindness and charity and thoughtfulness they do every day!

How wonderful would it be to be sitting around the dinner table, or call someone up, and say to that person, “I really think that’s great what you did when you…. I’m proud of what you did to make this world a better place. Thank you.”

I think I’ll start doing that today!

Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
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TV Shows and Clips about the Death of Cindy James