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Weekend Butler: The “Honor Walk” for Justin Shilling. Rilke on the secret of life. An ovation for Beethoven. And more….
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Published: Dec 09, 2021
Category:
Weekend
THE HONOR WALK FOR JUSTIN SHILLING
I was in California, talking about A Christmas Carol, when I heard about the Michigan high school shooting. I’m a parent of a teenager. But you don’t need to be a parent or a concerned citizen to feel the hurt. It keeps happening! They were so young! And right before the holidays!
I thought about these murders and the shooter and his parents incessantly. And then I saw a photograph that broke me.
Justin Shilling, 17, was one of the victims. His family decided to donate his organs to Florida-based NGO Gift of Life. His body was kept on life support in the McLaren Oakland Hospital until the organs could be harvested.
It is a tradition when a body is moved for organ transfer that nurses accompany the gurney. That ritual is called the “honor walk.” It is solemn at a level so deep it’s beyond words.
The McLaren Oakland Hospital is two buildings, with a glass-walled bridge between them. Justin’s body was to be moved across that bridge for the surgery to harvest the organs.
On Friday morning, people gathered in the street to witness the honor walk and express their grief and support. From the local paper:
The crowd consisted of students from Oxford High School, their friends, medical staff and emergency workers. Many of them wept and clapped for the Shillings as they appeared briefly on an overhead walkway. Some children held signs that read “Oxford Strong, RIP Justin.”
Paramedics and firefighters also joined the crowd. Downtown Pontiac almost looked like it was in a state of shutdown as essential workers joined in support of the family.
Click to see a photo of the honor walk. Prepare to weep.
BETTE MIDLER, AT THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS
I’m no fool — I brought a hanky ’cause I knew it was going to get very, very emotional. Because this is something that, you know it’s a kind of, you sort of sit at home and you watch these shows. And you think ‘Well, what about me?’ You can’t help it! You’re a human being.
I want to say that there’s this David Byrne song: “You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack. You may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile. And you say to yourself, ‘This is not my beautiful house, this is not my beautiful wife. How did I get here?’”
How did I get here? I have absolutely no earthly idea how I got here. I really don’t.
I came from nothing. I came from the most isolated place in the United States: Hawaii. And I spent most of my time reading books in libraries. And I had a mediocre education. But somehow or another I was mesmerized by the idea that someone would get up in a pool of light and be completely and utterly transformed. And transfigured. And beautiful. And that, when the light hit them, they had something not just to say—but something to reveal.
And I remember when I was a kid, I saw Édith Piaf on television, and I saw her… I think it was the first time I’d ever seen a human being do what she did. Which was to completely unzip her skin and show her soul. And I… I never really recovered from it. I really felt that I understood what that was. And that I could do it.
And subsequently in my life, I saw many people do it. People that I learned to love. I saw Tina Turner, I saw Aretha, I saw Janis Joplin. I saw so many people, so many men, so many women. And I fell in love with them, and I fell in love with the idea of what they did.
RAINER MARIA RILKE, ON THE SECRET OF THE UNIVERSE
from Rainer Maria Rilke: Letters on Life
There is no force in the world but love, and when you carry it with you, if you simply have it, even if you remain baffled as to how to use it, it will work its radiant effects and help you out of and beyond yourself: one must never lose this belief, one must simply (and if it were nothing else) endure in it!
GREAT MOMENTS IN HISTORY
from The Vintage Guide to Classical Music
Beethoven, now totally deaf, stood by the conductor at the premiere of his Ninth Symphony. When it ended, there was a storm of applause. He was still facing the orchestra. A soloist turned him around “to see the acclaim, which mounted louder and louder in a futile attempt to break through to him. It may have been the most glorious moment of Beethoven’s career. Locked in his silence, he seemed hardly able to understand or acknowledge it.
“THE TENDER BAR,” ONE MORE TIME
The movie opens in New York and Los Angeles on 12/17, in theaters everywhere 12/22. It will be available on Amazon Prime on 1/7. Promise: this is the last time I’ll suggest that you read the book. And watch the trailer.
THE HOLIDAY GIFT LIST
To the surprise of no one in my family, I forgot some gift ideas. They’re now included. Click here.
POEM OF THE WEEK
“The Coming of Light,” by Mark Strand
Even this late it happens:
the coming of love, the coming of light.
You wake and the candles are lit as if by themselves,
stars gather, dreams pour into your pillows,
sending up warm bouquets of air.
Even this late the bones of the body shine
and tomorrow’s dust flares into breath.
