The Strange Roads that Fate and Accident Send Us Down
Julius was active in his Reform synagogue, president of the Zionist organization (my only relative ever to have any such involvement), and a member of many local organizations. Everyone liked him; many loved him. But because no one had visited him, for the rest of his life, every Sunday Julius devoted to going to see sick people in the hospital. He became nationally famous for this practice and there were even radio programs done about his good deeds.
On August 2, 1944, at age 75, Julius died. The autopsy showed that he had never had tuberculosis. The whole thing was a misdiagnosis. His life had been based on a total mistake. Yet what a noble life it had been!
A few days after he died, a young man arrived in Asheville looking for Julius. He found my aunt who explained that he had come too late. The young man sighed and a tear wound down his cheek. He was, the man explained, Sophie’s son. She had never forgotten Julius and on her own deathbed bid him to somehow find Julius and tell him goodbye.
And now here I am trying to survive a correct diagnosis of lung cancer, living in an age far more advanced in so many material ways and regressed in some other ways. I salute you, Uncle Julius. May you be in a better place where your good deeds will be rewarded. And may we all remember how the strange roads that fate and accident send us down challenge us to be virtuous people nonetheless.
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Cross-posted from Rubin Reports
Image courtesy shutterstock / Krivosheev Vitaly
More from Barry Rubin at PJ Lifestyle:
Thomas Wolfe is one of my favorite writers. I can’t help but wonder what he might have done with your uncle’s story. Thank you for sharing it. Wishing you a complete recovery and a long life.
Thank you for sharing this.
Godspeed !
There is one alternative: that Julius’ recovery was so total that the autopsy could find no signs of it.
I remember going through a case file of a person who suffered from TB of practically every part of his body.. and recovered to such an extent that the Doctor could find no sign that he had ever had TB.