paul newman

Paul Newman died last night.

What I know of his life is that it was one worth emulating…married to his wife for 50 years, he gave hundreds of millions of dollars to charity, he started multiple camps and he was just so cool.

I think about living a good life and what that takes. I wonder often about being right and just and fair and honest, what that looks like and feels like. Intent is easy. Consistency is hard. If I were religious, I’d guess know in my heart I was always right and good because I’d own it in my heart but sometimes I am in my head and worse yet in my gut. At least with god you get to ask forgiveness, wash away all your transgression. Maybe that’s the point. 

The thing that strikes me about the public life of Paul is that he seemed to know exactly who he was and he made it looked easy; love was easy, giving was easy, being cool was easy. I hope it is true of his entire life. It looked effortless and true. I aspire to be like that in my entire life.