“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead,” Nelson Mandela

When someone is in the public light and famous it is almost certain the he or she has made some kind of difference in the lives of others. Sadly that difference is sometimes quite negative and damaging. It is in the positive encounters that the full significance of a life is best measured. 

Of course nobody is perfect, so the likelihood that there will be bad mixed in with even the most good is a possibility. In most cases a person has a preponderance of a certain kind of effect on others that counts as a measure of life beyond any mistakes that may have been made. We are all human after all and as such it is doubtful that any of us ids perfectly wonderful all of the time, but some of us come very close to perfection.

I have been fortunate to know wonderful souls who truly dedicated themselves to the positive progress of humankind. My friends Sonja and VeeJay are such people. I met them shortly after I moved into my present home. They were still grappling with the medical issues of an extremely premature little girl who was so small that she might have fit inside a teacup when she was born. After many weeks in intensive care she was thriving and becoming more and more likely to finally be at home with her family. Before that her mother and father had virtually lived at the hospital and so they had missed greeting us when we first moved onto the street. As unselfishly as they would always be they wanted to make sure that we understood that they were quite happy that we had joined the cul-de=sac. 

Over the next many months Sonja reached out to me over and over again, inviting me to neighborhood events and sweetly introducing me to her friends. She and VeeJay went out of their way to make Mike and me feel very welcome in our new home. They paved the way for us to feel as good and we had in the home that we left after over thirty years of living and memories. 

It did not take long to realize that Sonja and VeeJay were loved by everyone who knew them. Why wouldn’t that be so? They embraced everyone with kindness and joy. We felt that we were very lucky to have them so close by our home and became valued friends of them quite quickly. Sadly we soon learned that they were planning to move. They wanted to be closer to a church that they had joined. They were quite active in all of the events taking place there but their drive to and from the place was long and taking far too much of their time. Besides, Sonja had decided to become a teacher there and it was also closer to VeeJays job. We had to sadly watch these two wonderful people leave us behind as they embarked on a new life. 

The best aspects of Facebook came to the rescue. We have kept in touch with them from afar and they have proven again and again to be the kind of people who make a difference in the lives of countless individuals. including ours. Eventually Sonja and VeeJay had a son to go along with their beautiful and talented daughter. Both children are like their parents in the depth of their friendliness and generosity. 

The family became especially important to everyone who knows them during the long days of isolation and loss during the Covid pandemic. They began featuring a number of videos in which they competed with each other in preparing food given certain ingredients that they had to use. Their efforts were hilarious, especially those of the boy who is a natural born comic. We all clung to the joy of those videos during what were sometimes dark moments. Theirs was a lifesaving effort to keep smiles on our faces and the whole thing worked splendidly. 

In better times they have gone on missionary trips to bring medical supplies and food to people in parts of the world where poverty seems grind good people down. They lovingly minister to them and help them to rebuild their lives and their homes, embracing them with the same offer of friendship that they gave to me and my husband so many years ago.

Sonja continues to teach one group of little ones after another. VeeJay is still doing his engineering work. The girl is now a student at the University of Houston where she uses her beautiful voice and musical talents to bring joy to a wider and wider audience. The boy is finishing high school and offering his comic sense to the theater program. All the while they embrace every person they encounter with a way of making each of them feel special and loved. 

Most people will never meet Sonja or VeeJay or their children. Maybe the daughter and son will use their talents to become famous but that may or may not happen either. Nonetheless this family has touched the lives of more people that most of us do in all of our lifetimes. They give of themselves over and over again for no other reason than to make everyone feel important and loved. I can’t think of anything more significant that a person might ever aspire to do. They have led the kind of lives that each of us would do well to model and I am fortunate to be one of the recipients of their largesse. They inspire me to be better and do better just as I am sure they affect everyone that they encounter. Theirs are great lives born from their great deeds.