Farewell, Richard Cory

My brother-in-law, a generous, successful person whom everyone enjoyed, died the Thursday before Thanksgiving in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. He had everything people are told they should want, but it wasn't enough.

Maybe we need to redefine success and re-examine what we're supposed to want.

I have many things I could say, but perhaps it isn't my place to say them. I can say, however, that if something looks too good to be true, it is. 

Have uncomfortable conversations. Be vulnerable, even if it means you're going to be shot down and hurt sometimes. Be messy, and blink a few times when you're told to be perfect. A life filled with angst and doubt is better than a perfect portrait. 

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Richard Cory

'Whenever Richard Cory went down town,

We people on the pavement looked at him:

He was a gentleman from sole to crown,

Clean favored, and imperially slim.

'And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked;

But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

'And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—

And admirably schooled in every grace:

In fine, we thought that he was everything

To make us wish that we were in his place.

'So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

Went home and put a bullet through his head.'

- Edward Arlington Robinson

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Goodbye, JB

Deb in the City