- May 16th, 2007, 12:03 pm
#84685
I've refrained from putting my thoughts in here until now, largely because I didn't know what to say. Everything I would have said has already been said by someone else and said better than I could have done. I think the main thing that I appreciated about Jerry -- and still do -- is who he was and what he represented, not just to me but to everyone else. I'm sure it was my own fault but I don't think I got a good grasp of that as a student here. In fact, I don't think I really came close to 'getting' Jerry until after I came back to work here and could actually begin to see his long-term BHAG reflected as part of my own life.
As all of us are, I am truly grieved to see Jerry go. However, there is one aspect of this sad moment that I am truly enjoying and that is that, as condolences and memories are poured out here on this board and in the newspaper and continue to come in from around the globe, I hear all these thoughts and stories and my idea of who Jerry was is exponentially broadened and deepened. I interacted with him on a few occasions but -- as I mentioned to someone this morning -- Jerry was something like the Great and Powerful Oz to me, benevolent yet all-powerful and somehow separated from we mere mortals because of that power. It's ironic and more than a little sad that it's only now, in his passing, that some of us see the complete 'Jerry'.
As all of us are, I am truly grieved to see Jerry go. However, there is one aspect of this sad moment that I am truly enjoying and that is that, as condolences and memories are poured out here on this board and in the newspaper and continue to come in from around the globe, I hear all these thoughts and stories and my idea of who Jerry was is exponentially broadened and deepened. I interacted with him on a few occasions but -- as I mentioned to someone this morning -- Jerry was something like the Great and Powerful Oz to me, benevolent yet all-powerful and somehow separated from we mere mortals because of that power. It's ironic and more than a little sad that it's only now, in his passing, that some of us see the complete 'Jerry'.
"I invite all the young champions on Liberty Mountain to come up and rub my woolly mustache."