Justice or Peace?

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In memory of my father Dovid ben Eliezer, whose yahrzeit occurs tonight.

First question for your table:

What's inscribed on Tom Jefferson's tomb?
Answer:

AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

Those were the three accomplishments he wanted us to remember him by.

Second question for your table: What do you think? Pretty awesome legacy?

Other epitaphs of note:

Mel Blanc: “That’s all folks” 
Robert Frost:  “I had a lover’s quarrel with the world.”
Joe DiMaggio: “Grace, dignity and elegance personified”
Winston Churchill: “I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.” 
Alexander the Great: “A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough” 
Baltimore's Edgar Allen Poe: “Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore’”
Frank Sinatra: “The best is yet to come”
Merv Griffin: “I will not be right back after this message.”
Johannes Kepler: “We who loved you will watch for you in the night sky; for surely you will race across the heavens faster than any star”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty I'm Free at Last."
(I was not able to locate Kurt Vonnegut's epitaph - his grave is secret - but I did stumble upon this quote: "“If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC”"

My father left no instructions.

My dear mother, in her wisdom, understood what drove him, what inspired him throughout his life, and she captured that life in a single line:

CHAMPION OF JUSTICE

Not only did he pursue justice, it gave him great satisfaction when justice was achieved - even if it were at his own expense. If justice meant he had to work harder, got paid less (or even pro bono), it didn't bother him even slightly. While he enjoyed his family and friends, appreciated music, savored delicious food, beautiful nature and art, he wasn't in this world for himself, he wasn't even here "for others" in the normal way we say that. 

All of those lower rungs of Maslow's ladder were a background to his greatest satisfaction in life:

- a focus on empowerment - freeing others from injustice to pursue their happiness
- literally rejoicing when others succeeded
- truly sad when justice was delayed or denied

To my knowledge - and to the knowledge of Google - he is the only person in history with such an epitaph.

Final question for your table: If you should ever die - God forbid - what would you want them to write on your tomb?

 

Shabbat Shalom.

 

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