maybe i don't feel the same way about death as a lot of people. i don't know. i'm not going to explain anything that i think is original or brilliant, i know. indulge me.
i think that the best we can hope for as human beings is to live a long life. duh. we are ALL going to die. so all that is left is to look at HOW we've lived, what we've given. and in the rare instances where a man or woman has given so much, added something so extraordinary to the universe, maybe mourning is not as appropriate as honoring, maybe even celebrating the life of this person.
it says in the paper that jack mulhall "ran shelters for addicted people." to be fair, it says a little bit more than that. but not nearly enough. not nearly enough.
jack (though not all by himself) founded and was the driving force behind the keating centers in cleveland. here's how i describe the keating center: you're a drunk or junkie, and you're at rock bottom. you show up at their door and say "i need help." you got it. you have a bed, food, clothing, and help. for free. the people who work at keating are all in recovery and work there to help drunks and junkies get and stay clean and sober. they are all angels. they -- and jack -- love you. they teach you how to love yourself again. it's not easy. jack wasn't easy. he was a tough, crusty old bird.
but -- oh man -- what he did. he scraped and begged for anything and everything keating needed to stay afloat. and they did.
i asked him once if he was related to someone that i knew from my childhood. he said, "yes, he was my brother. he died." i told him i was sorry, that i, as a child, had admired his brother. jack told me that his brother was one of the reasons why he kept on. that his brother told him to as he was dying, that it was good work that he was doing.
jackson was sent to keating by the probation officer in his case back in 2007. he fricking hated it. it was more work than he was ready for. he knew it. everybody at keating knew it. so when jackson bolted in the middle of the night, jack wouldn't let him back in. it would have been a waste of a spot. it was right.
jack generated a whole lot of controversy. he was not easy. but you can NEVER take away from him what he did. i can't even guess at the number of people he helped get and stay sober. the lives he saved and enriched.
he did good. thank you, jack.
***and you can do good, too: send a check to PO Box 770108, Lakewood, OH 44107.
Posted by Stacey at November 10, 2009 11:51 AMSound like the world has lost a very precious person.
How is Jackson doing these days?
Posted by: Anji at November 10, 2009 04:18 PM