There Are A Lot of Good People in This World

Exhibit A:

When Karen wrote about the upcoming funeral for Texas Air Force veteran Joseph Walker on Sunday, she was part of a swelling effort in the media trying to draw public attention to the story. Walker was just 55 years old when he passed and he was virtually alone in the world. The funeral home feared there would be nobody there to see him off and put the word out that one of our veterans was being laid to rest. At the time, I hoped that some of the local veterans groups and their families would be able to put together some sort of assembly to attend, but with barely two days notice it seemed as if it would be difficult.

So many people showed up that vehicles were backed up onto a nearby highway. The ceremony started late to allow everyone to attend. Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody, who dispatched units to assist with traffic for the burial, estimated there were more than 5,000 people there.

When the ceremony began, shortly after 10:00 a.m., dozens of US flags waved in the wind. Then three planes, in an apparent flyover, buzzed across the sky.

“Today, we’re not strangers. Today, we are family. This is our brother, Joseph Walker. I don’t have a whole lot of information, but it doesn’t matter,” said a speaker at the funeral. “Today, we give him honors,”

Go here to read the rest.

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

John Donne