The Sargent Shriver I Knew

I just watched a repeat of the wake for Sargent Shriver on C-Span, a wonderful service. I have been reflecting on Sargent Shriver all this week. I am amazed at the outpouring of affection shown him in every publication I have read. The comments sections after those articles are remarkable both in the amount of comments and the sentiments expressed. He really did touch more lives than we can possibly imagine.

I was thinking that he didn't know me, but I knew him because he awoke a part of me that I would not have known were it not for him. I was particularly moved by Timothy Shriver's reading of how his father defined himself. I think he was completely right about himself. He knew who he was and what was important, and his life is a lesson that we can all learn from.

In a world where there is too much violence, too much hate, too much cynicism, too much selfishness, too much unhappiness, too much poverty, too much self-righteousness, he stands as a role model for how to turn all that around and at the same time live a happy, fulfilled life, with more friends and admirers that we can possibly imagine. The tributes he has received are proof enough about what is the best way to live. I just wonder if we will ever wake up to that. We really are all in this together, and when we look out for that of which we are a part, we look out for ourselves. That is what Sargent Shriver in his own way knew and how he lived. His passing only reminds us of this once again.

I did some searching on the Internet and found the Sargent Shriver Web site, and they have his speech delivered at the 25th anniversary of the Peace Corps in 1986. Reading that speech again, with its theme of service, especially its conclusion, takes me back to that celebration and how inspired I was by his admonition to “serve, serve, serve.” Amazing.