I sit in a Catholic church, attending a Catholic mass, and wish I was a Cathar.

Just as Ignatius of Loyola grew from vain soldier in the Spanish military into a spiritual dynamo, we all grow. The wonder of life is the growth and evolution of an individual. Labels are pointless if change makes them obsolete.

Most people today cannot get around their own paranoia. Better to live fully with some risk, than to surrender rational thought and embrace fear.

Won’t it be amazing two months from now, millions of people staring at all the cans of soup and rolls of toilet paper in the closet. Reflecting back on missed opportunities and cancelled gatherings, those same people angry at themselves for allowing hysteria to get the better of them. Realizing in the end, they were tougher than a flu virus.

A friend departs to that other realm, heaven bound, and they take with them only their soul. Their impact on loved ones, family and friends, stays behind to push us past our sadness at saying goodbye. Then, remarkably, their impact stays with us for years after those first few days of mourning. We are most fortunate to have known a person that added so much to our own character. My friend Tom died this morning. It is comforting to know that he was giving a gift of friendship all these years that I now receive priceless encouragement in the years ahead. Tom, thank you.