Tony Snow

Tony Snow passed away yesterday after a valiant fight against cancer.

He seemed like a genuinely decent man. Stories like this one from NRO, among many others, seem to confirm the fct that he was one of the rare indiduals who had the integretation of public and private personnas which makes for a "life well lived."

Back in 2001 - long before he had been diagnosed with cancer - Snow wrote a column on a friend who had died of cancer; it moved me so emotionally that I've had it bookmarked for years.

I think that people project onto others who they really are. Hence, someone who is bitter and sneaky sees in everyone else the characteristics of bitterness and sneakiness. Contrawise, someone who is decent sees the decency in others.

Read the column and decide for yourself who Tony Snow was.

Here is the conclusion from that column:

If there is redemption in pain, Ken was long ago redeemed. If there is glory in the love one inspires, Ken has achieved glory worthy of a king. I find myself in the odd position of mourning less than I ought to because I feel so grateful that I got to know him at all. The world doesn't produce as many nice guys as it should. Ditto for people who possess exemplary courage, strength, decency and faith. Ken got 44 years to show the rest of us how to brighten a life and a world.


And when the day comes that the rest of us make our way to "the other side," Ken will be waiting smiling, ready to give a tour and make an introduction or two. And that reunion happy, hospitable and warm, will make the place seem just like well, heaven.

In that column, it seems that Tony Snow was writing his own eulogy.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,
And let perpetual Light shine upon him.
May his souls
And the souls of all the faithful departed
Through the mercy of God
Rest in peace.
Amen.

Update: It seems that Tony Snow was a convert to Catholicism.

I didn't suspect that. I would have guessed that he was Evangelical.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one.

Raymond Arroyo on Tony Snow.

Tony Snow's 2007 commencement address at the Catholic University of America.

I appreciate a few thoughts from the speech in a way that I would not have nearly 30 years ago when I was listening to my collegiate commencement speech, which just goes to show how priorities settle down and become rightly ordered.

Here's one:

There is nothing like the pleasure of being a parent. Waking up the next morning to somebody whose breath has become the echo of your heartbeat. Trust me on this, it does not get any better. Commit.

And another:

And finally this: Wherever you are and whatever you do, never forget at this moment, and every moment forward, you have a precious blessing. You’ve got the breath of life. No matter how lousy things may seem, you’ve got the breath of life. And while God doesn’t promise tomorrow, he does promise eternity.

54 years isn't enough time.