Nice Matters

Today I went to the funeral for one of the world’s nicest people, Sally Ransford. I first met Sally when her husband came to work at Westminster as the youth minister. She immediately struck me as one of the kindest people I had ever met. Apparently I was not alone in this feeling for her based on the over capacity crowd at her service today.
Sally quietly fought cancer for the last five years, but I never heard a peep from her about sadness or suffering. Of course I knew her at church where people tend not to complain about their own lot in life. Sally was more than nice, she always made you feel like you were the center of all that matters.
Sally’s three daughters my friend Kristen and her sisters Julie and Becca as well as their father all spoke. It made the kind of personal farewell that is heartfelt and touching for those in attendance. I know it is not always the strength of all mourners to public talk about their departed loved one, but I wish it were always that way. When I go to a funeral that is straight from the book, with only a few remarks from a clergy who may not have known the dearly departed I am sad.
I came away from Sally’s service determined to be a better person. She was that inspirational. Sadly, I told her husband and my friend Kristen that I don’t think I can live long enough to get to be half as nice as Sally was. If I change all my bad habits and live a chaste and selfless life for the rest of my days still no one would say at my funereal that I never said a bad word about anyone.  
Even though that is certainly the case I am not going to be deterred about trying to do “what Sally would do.” One thing I know is too late for me is to become a great tennis player like Sally, or to have two more daughters. The best I can do is not to think about myself and care first about the person in front of me. The one thing Sally Ransford proved is that nice matters.