a leaf warbler's gleanings

There is a phone call that we all dread, those of us in the globalized diaspora who are flung far from home and family. It always comes bearing a numbing shock, even if we've been living in dread of it. I got one such call four years ago, knocking the wind out of me as it was completely unanticipated, when I lost my father. My wife jumps at the phone if it rings at odd hours ever since her mother's health started declining. Our friend Mark Boyd, president of the Central Valley Alliance of Atheists and Skeptics, received such a call yesterday when he lost is wife, Won Chong Boyd, who was on a long-awaited trip back home to Korea. She was the same age as my older sister - far too young to die, at 46, even if she had been ill for some time. I can only imagine his shock and grief as he prepares hastily to journey to Korea himself to take care of her one last time. Along with the emotional terror of such a phone call comes an added financial shock for many of us as we also have to deal with the mundane but substantial costs of last-minute airfares and other practical matters. Mark and Won were already stretched from having scraped together the airfare for the latter's trip back home, long delayed due to her ill-health - so he is hurting financially as well. But that at least is a practical thing we can help him with, even as we may find it hard to imagine the emotional shock of losing a life partner at a young age; to lose them from half a world away after one's been nursing them through ill-health for years! In his immediate grief, Mark speaks of the turmoil his wife and he overcame over his loss of religious faith - and this is just the kind of time when faith offers an institutionalized community to share the burden of grief. Us godless individuals have only each other to rely on, so I hope you too can lend a hand to help a fellow human being at his time of need. I know fellow CVAAS members are already rallying around - but thought I should spread the word in case you are also able to help - please visit his blog for how.