A DAD REFLECTS ON THE DEATH OF HIS SON
The following is the funeral message of William Sloane Coffin, Jr. after his son Alexander’s accidental death. Having five sons roughly Alex’s age, I found it hard to read it aloud to them or anyone without tears. Coffin quoted Hemingway: “The world breaks everyone, then some become strong at the broken places.” Coffin: “My own broken heart is mending. And I have relearned one lesson: Love not only begets love, it transmits strength.” Do you identify with Coffin as a nice- looking, well-intending, middle-aged, quiche- bearing neighbor popped in the day after Alex’s death: “I just don’t understand the will of God.” Coffin: “Instantly I was up and in hot pursuit, swarming all over her. ‘I’ll say you don’t lady!’ I said. (I knew the anger would do me good, and the instruction to her was long overdue.) I continued: ‘Do you think it was the will of God that Alex never fixed that lousy…
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