Hi everyone, welcome to thanks for being here, a short weekly pad to remind us of the many essential

and beautiful ways we affect one another. Every Sunday I'll read a submission from a listener

of Kelly Corrigan Wonders, could be wedding vows or about

mitzvah toast, a eulogy or retirement speech.

We believe this is probably the loveliest way to tap into our better selves and remember our highest values.

We encourage you to share this podcast each week with one person you love, maybe someone

you miss and need to bring closer,

someone you want to feel your appreciation or admiration or both.

This is thanks for being here is from a friend of mine. Her name is Tamar Gendler. We did an episode with her in the fall of 2020

where she knit together brilliantly the relationship between ancient wisdom and modern happiness.

It's one of my favorite conversations,

if for no other reason, then Tamar is hyper-articulate.

Like she's in the top 1 100th of 1%

in terms of like crystallized intelligence.

And so, when she sent me the eulogy she wrote for her father, I was eager to share it.

So this is Tamara Gendler's eulogy for her father Everett.

Everett was always ahead of his time. Nearly 75 years ago in 1948 he became a vegetarian.

Some seven years later in 1955, he spent a summer at a folk school receiving civil

rights training alongside a young Rosa Parks. He was an environmentalist by the time of Eisenhower.

In 67 he gave a sermon on the immorality of factory farming.

By the early 70s he and Mary had a large organic garden filled with chard and kale complete with a

compost heap. In 1978 he installed photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of his

...