Now that vw bug has gone all Warner Brothers on us, I think it’s a good time for us to reflect on the weightier issues that confront us today. I certainly hope that this will not be the pattern until Jack’s return, but somebody has to provide ballast and if that’s to be my lot, well, I signed onto this project and by God, I’m sticking to it.

But no matter. Once I find where Jack left the single malt, I’ll loosen up. But I swear, if I see one exploding cigar…

It’s interesting–for me only–that I am here guest blogging while Jack attends to his family and his move. We “met” as co-bloggers at The Iraq Elections Blog and co-subbed for sortapundit for about two weeks a while back. Since then we have exchanged many links and emails, and while we do not always agree, I can always count on a thoughtful, reasoned argument. Even when I don’t want one.

In our last few emails, I have struggled to offer him a few words, but they have failed me time and again. I chalk this up to the fact that I lack any sort of faith. I want to tell Jack that I understand what he is going through, because I do. I watched my father battle Cancer for quite a long time until he succumbed many years ago, now. I know the anguish of helplessly watching a loved one suffer.

But what do I have to tell him? That it’s all going to be just fine? I suppose that there is a certain type of person who would think that saying so offers some comfort. But in truth, it doesn’t. It doesn’t because nothing can. This is where vocabulary loses to feeling, where empathy and understanding trump any palliative.

In every other part of life, on just about any other subject, I have no problem coming up with the right words (most people will find it difficult to shut me up, in fact). But here, when I want to offer a friend something that might lighten the load for a moment, I become tongue-tied. I can’t tell Jack that I’m praying for him because he knows I’m not. I am wishing… what exactly? I don’t know. But he does. Somehow, through the wires and via pixels, Jack knows that if I could pray, I’d be praying for him and his family, on my knees, with no purpose but to ask that God’s blessings be visited upon him.

Take care, Jack. Be safe. We’ll keep the light on.