Losing Friends

I just learned yesterday that another blogger friend has died. He called himself  Bevie and blogged under A Voice in the Wind among other names. The most wrenching thing about his untimely death is that he died solely because of poverty. His requests for help from the State of Minnesota and the county resulted in only food stamps. He had no medical coverage of any kind.

Bevie had once been well-employed and he, his wife and son lived in a nice home. As his health began to fail, he could no longer work and they fell behind in house payments. The mortgage lender, in their heartless, hard-nosed rectitude, foreclosed and the family moved out of the house last August. They sold most of their belongings and moved into a small, third floor apartment.

Months later, Bevie and his son took a drive back to the still-vacant house. It was fast falling into disrepair with nobody living there. The pointlessness of it all saddened him greatly.

The family struggled with living on only his wife's income. Getting-by meant that they went to the food shelf when possible and every expense was major. Yet, amongst all this, he was determined that his son should have a saxophone to enrich his life. In spite of his own needs, he insisted that his son would not go without.

Bevie died in his sleep one week ago. His selflessness very likely shortened his life, but maybe that's not such a bad legacy. Rest in peace, Bevie.