Wow!

Originally planned was an essay on all the “Wow!” On the craziness of this past week. I was looking it over. It was good, predictable, yet nothing of real substance and was not that ‘thought provoking.’… Then one of my kids sent me an interview. It was something that I needed to share with you. Below is the link:

     It was a New York Times interview with, former Nebraska Senator, Ben Sasse, entitled, “How Ben Sasse Is Living, Now That He is Dying.”  Listening to the interview, I picture Ben Sasse as a John Krasinski character should his life be portrayed in a movie. He is a very relatable character.  If you are not familiar with Sasse, he was a United States Senator from 2014 until 2023 when he stepped down to become the President of the University of Florida. He grew up in Nebraska, the son of a high school teacher and stay at home Mom.  He graduated Valedictorian in his class.  Ben’s role prior to his senate election, was the youngest President of Midland Lutheran College  in Nebraska, at the age of 37.  His own university experiences included a degree from Harvard undergrad, Oxford University, St. John’s College and a PhD from Yale. When asked why he left Washington, he said that he didn’t think that there was much he could do to make a difference at the time he left. He sought a career at the large University level where he felt that educating future leaders and citizen for a meaningful life and career was more of a use of his talents. This past December, at age fifty-four, Ben announced that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. What started as extreme back pain as he was training for an athletic event in the fall, was a diagnoses of numerous tumors causing pain to the spine, related to pancreatic cancer. Married, with two daughters out of college and a son who is a teenager, he has sought experimental treatment at the Anderson Clinic in Texas to keep him alive so that he can be present for his family as long as possible.  This is the background of Sasse, prior to his interview with Ross Douthat, columnist for the Times and the host of the podcast, “Interesting Times.”

     So what was it that grabbed my attention from this interview?  Other prominent people have written books or documented their life lessons at this last stage of life. Do you recall the book by college professor, Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture that became a best seller back in 2008.  It documented the Carnegie Melon Univeristy computer  professor’s last lessons on life that he felt were most important, looking at life from this stage. Or Mitch Albom’s Tuesday’s With Morrie, which documented the lessons he learned from his Brandis University college professor whom he met with on Tuesdays as he was dying with Lou Gehrig’s disease.

     What got my attention in this interview was that although Ben is looking at the last stage of his life, he shared his unique view of post high school education at training for adult life from his experience at the college/university administration level.  He shared the popularity of the Hamilton school at the University of Florida which allows for students to experience a Cambridge/Oxford settings that exposes students to the values of Western Civilization. I liked Ben’s comments that the four years of a student’s university experience should prepare them for a meaningful life, career and productive member of society, rather than just prolonged adolescences. 

     Following his take on what an ideal university education should look like he answered questions most of us would be curious about in his stage in life, like ‘What would you do differently?’  ‘How do you feel about your faith?’ He said that he would make Sunday’s more sacred, as in after church and Sunday dinner as a family he would devote the entire day to family and faith, not slipping into the study to do work.  He would encourage people to enjoy family dinners, keep the phones away from the dinner table,  ‘live down the street from their parents,’ and have strong relationships with their cousins/extended family.  He reflected on time spent away from his family while working in Washington.

     The most fascinating to me was how he felt about his Lord and Savior at this time in his life, paraphrasing here of course, but Sasse, feels that he has even more respect for Jesus saying that he wouldn’t want a Savior who said ‘yes’ to all of his prayers. The Lord who made all of creation knows what we need most and when. This last portion of the interview was the most interesting to me. There was no anger or ‘why me’ in his voice.  He made reference to a Presbyterian pastor who also was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer who had a similar attitude, with both men commenting on the rich lessons learned, when life suddenly has more of a definite time line.  We all know we will be departing this earth, some have a more defined time line than others.  That these men, Randy, Morrie, Pastor Timothy Keller and Ben knew/know their time was/is limited and they can speak of the lessons to share with others is incredible to me and in such a hopeful heart.I don’t know HOW I would choose to spend the remaining days I would have, but I would hope that my end days would be days of gratitude of good lessons learned, for one to feel ‘why me,’ might be understandable when others are fully living their life, but I hope I would not have that attitude, but rather gratitude for the gifts in this life that the Lord has blessed me with.

     We see or listen to people in Ben Sasse’s situation, we listen, take note and then move on with our lives. I sometimes get wrapped up in the things going on outside of our families or the latest catastrophe in the news. Who is the latest “town idiot,” “political clown” or “media dumb dumb.” These subjects, may affect our day to day lives in terms of cost of living, travel to certain parts of the world or our day to day safety so they may require a piece of our attention. However, I am with Ben, what really matters are the relationships with those who are in our nearest circle; the children and grandchildren who need our wisdom and life lessons to learn from and the spouse who we pledged our love to in marriage who we have raised our children with who we will spend the rest of our lives with.  The adult children, should we be so fortunate to see them into their adulthood and into their stages of raising their children and getting on with their lives. Our role as a parent never stops, it changes in terms of ‘job description,’ but our kids always can use our guidance and listening ear, although once they are adults and paying their own bills, the responsibilities and decisions are theirs to make. 

     With Easter so fresh in our minds and with Good Friday being observed today by Orthodox Christians, the fleeting of life here on earth should be front and center. With Easter so present, hear these lessons from Ben and others and take notice. The cares of this world, as in “How much is enough,” in terms of working and buying possessions, or scrolling through social media to see who has the most likes or trying to post images that will gain the most likes, searching for more and more ‘stuff’ to satisfy a need that may never be met. Set your sights on the activities and things that matter. You have heard this before, heed the warning and reap the benefits of living a life of intention while you have the most time to enjoy it.  Why NOT?! It could lead you to…some Great Days ❤️