Kindness From Kindness

Two years ago, on March 6, 2016, we gathered at a chapel in Colorado Springs to say goodbye to my son, Jordan. I don’t remember all of the ceremony – just bits and pieces. I was still in shock... that God- given state that protects you from the crushing devastation of unexpected and profound loss. I do remember that there were lots of people there – standing room only. I am not surprised... Jordan touched so many in his brief 24 years.

A theme that emerged that day, both during and after the service, was Jordan’s genuine kindness. Jordan was kind and he demonstrated that kindness throughout his life. As a young boy who left a football game in the neighbor’s yard to play with a mentally-challenged boy who had been denied entry into the game, Jordan’s tender heart always reached out in kindness to combat injustice.

A couple of months ago, I received an email from a woman Jordan had worked with at Target in Boulder right after he graduated college. I had never met her and did not recognize the name, but she wanted to let our family know how Jordan had reached out to her in kindness during a difficult time in her life. Yes, that would be Jordan! Her email was an unexpected comfort and I was so grateful that she had taken the time to write and pay it forward. A kindness from a kindness... I like to think of that as Jordan’s legacy.

We have a tendency to make people “better” in death... we build up the positives and downplay the negatives because it is comforting. Was Jordan perfect? Of course not; nobody is. But Jordan’s humor, compassion and wisdom were so all-encompassing and beyond his years… he truly was a remarkable young man. I believe, with all my heart, that Jordan will always be better in life... there are no words in death that do him justice.

Death may have dimmed the light that Jordan brought to the world, but he continues to shine in the kind acts friends and family do in his cherished memory.

Shine on, Jordan!