Musings & Meditations

Paul Newman, an actor of considerable talent and influence, died today. He was known not only for his great performances in a plethora of films and his long-term marriage to the wonderful Joanne Woodward, but also his many charitable endeavors over many decades, including a center dedicated to anti-drug education, a camp for terminally ill children, and, of course, Newman’s Own line of organic foods, the profits from which are given to charitable causes.

The New York Times has written a wonderful tribute to the man. I was particularly struck by something Newman said only recently, and which bears repeating:

We are such spendthrifts with our lives,” Mr. Newman once told a reporter. “The trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I’m not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out.