You say goodbye and I say Shalom

Bad news tops the headlines that I'm looking at this morning along with a sad loss for the Kansas City area. The Star reports: Shalom Catholic Worker House Mary K. Meyer died Monday of lung cancer.

She was 76. Her funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Our Lady and St. Rose Catholic Church.

I had the pleasure of meeting Meyer a long, long time ago when my tireless pursuit of white tail led me to inadvertently hang out with KC's social justice crowd. While most of these folks have their hearts in the right place, they're nearly all condescending and all too hopeful that if we could all be friends than all wars would cease. Still, I never got that vibe from Meyer. Every obituary or story you hear about her which describes her tireless work ethic and devotion to her beliefs is true. To date, I've seen few people so actively dedicated to helping others on a basic humanitarian level . . . And I was only around her for about an hour.

Normally, I don't trust anyone who says that they're out to "help people" but something about Meyer allayed the cynicism that's hardwired into my DNA. There's politics, and pet causes and all kinds of different stands for people to make in Kansas City but it's strange that so few folks stand up for simple human decency or making sure that hungry people get fed or people who need clothes get them . . . Mary K. Meyer was a great local example of that and I'm sure she'll be missed by the great many who she inspired and helped.