Selflessness

Be selfless...and be free.
                        Swami Sivananda

     My aunt died last week. Uncle Charles, no doubt, was perched by the Pearly Gates waiting to give her a big "Welcome Home" hug.

     Aunt Geneva was as calm and serene as Uncle Charles was exuberant and feisty. Their marriage was the perfect alchemy of opposites coming together for a beautiful life.

     They fell in love in the shadow of the Great Depression and World War II. For sure, my uncle fancied Aunt Geneva because she was pretty, loved to dance, travel, and play cards with a vengeance...and she was very smart. But I suspect a deeper reason for his love and devotion. A reason as old-fashioned and out-of-fashion as giving someone a friendly wave when they let you switch lanes ahead of them in traffic.

     Aunt Geneva was valedictorian of her graduating class. A placard people like to buff and polish long after they've walked across the stage to get their diploma and give their speech. Not my aunt. I never even knew this about her until her funeral. But that's not the whole story.

     She'd actually given up her bragging rights about graduating valedictorian. Money for college tuition came with the title, but Aunt Geneva decided to take a job right after high school. College would have to wait. The  school principal said the salutatorian wanted to go to university in the Fall, but didn't have the money for tuition.

     "Geneva, would you mind giving up being valedictorian so the salutatorian can have the title and the money?"

     Aunt Geneva said, "Yes," and so could never lay claim to her achievement again, and, when she did go to college later, the money was no longer hers to use.

     My aunt understood the quiet rightness of selflessness. My uncle loved a wonderful woman. (300 words)