See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land. (Song of Solomon 2:11-12)
Every spring for what seemed like a hundred years, legendary Tiger broadcaster Ernie Harwell opened the baseball season with those words from the Bible. Ernie, a devout Christian, died this past Tuesday evening, and part of me died too. My childhood and even adult summer memories are filled with his soothing call of a Tiger game, and I actually shed a tear for a man whom I never met, yet who was somehow my friend. As others have recalled their memories of Ernie, they usually have nothing to do with how he called a game, though he did have some well-known lines. Almost always it comes down to who he was, how he cared for others, and his humility. It is the humility part that seems to amaze most observers. How many famous people remain humble? Yet to the last of his 92 years he put God first and others ahead of himself. He said repeatedly that he was ready to meet God; I have a suspicion that God was pleased to welcome Ernie to his new home.
I wonder how I will be remembered. Will others look at my accomplishments or my character? Will people care that I simply gave, or that I gave because I cared? We are blessed at our school by many people who give of time, talents, and resources because they care, not because they are looking for earthly glory or praise. May we all, like Ernie Harwell, serve our community with humility, so that when we are “looooong gone,” others will remember us not for what we did, but for who we were.
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