Phil McGill (not his real name), a rich businessman from an upper-class family in Massachusetts, USA, shared this experience with me. His story enlightened me a lot.
We had become friends, and he was taking me to his home for dinner. At a certain moment, he stopped, and said: “What a lovely tree!” We both looked at a large tree near the road. It was lush and green. The sky was a beautiful blue.
“Earlier,” he told me, “I never stopped to look at the beauty of nature. I just drove my car, to get back home fast.”
“What changed you, Phil?”
“A close friend’s death.”
“Oh! How did it affect you?”
“We were the same age. He died of a heart attack at the age of forty-two. I had never thought of death until then. I just took everything for granted—my life, my health, my loving wife, my two wonderful daughters, my work. I simply kept busy, went to work every morning, came back home in the evening.”
Fr Joe Mannath SDB
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