Last week, the world lost two people who have opened the hearts of many: Luciano Pavarotti and Madeleine L’Engle. Even people who have no interest in opera have heard of Pavarotti, and many of us were first introduced to different worlds (and different ways of thinking) by L’Engle.
And in some ways, the world feels a shabbier place without them in it.
Yet, if anything, their enduring gifts are all about life, not death. Unlike other tenors, who feel as distant as stars, Pavarotti brought opera back into the mainstream and into the hearts of many: he was approachable, a genius who looked like a dozen other people you could see on a New York subway car. And L’Engle set the world of children’s literature on its head by staging cosmic battles between good and evil using concepts from Einstein’s theory of relativity and Planck’s quantum theory – her own theory being that good children’s literature is unapproachable by adults.
They both left us with one gift: the art of living passionately, of opening one’s heart to the world and all the beauties and puzzles it offers.
Not a bad gift at all. But they will be missed …
– Jeannette
www.JeannetteCezanne.com
Posted by: — jcezanne
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Oh no! We knew Madeline L’Engle when we lived in NYC! She was a member of the Cathedral Church of Saint John. She will be missed!
Comment by lmercer — September 14, 2007 @ 7:55 pm