Donald Bernard "Don" Kurz

“Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the detail of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another”-Earnest Hemingway

I got the call, it was a call I had been expecting for a rather long time. I remember looking at my phone ring and just knowing, something that wasn’t pleasurable was on the other line. I picked up and heard my sisters familiar voice as she said, “Grandpa isn’t doing too well”. My heart simply just sank in a motion that can only be described as something similar to the titanic. My grandpa was 91 years old, and his health was in very poor shape, it was very clear to everyone in the family that he was dying. My grandpa and I have formed a very special relationship over the past couple of years. I really think of him, and will always think of him, as one of my best friends.

As soon as I could, I rushed over the hospital to visit him. However, this time I was not embraced by that warm friendly smile I was so used to seeing. His face was rather serious, almost showing no emotion what-so-ever. I pulled up a chair next to him and made it my mission to make sure this man, the man who has helped me through some of the hardest times of my life, would smile before I left. Little did I know he had an agenda of his own. I started asking him questions about almost everything and eventually he slowly started to dictate the conversation. He told me some advice, that I will never forget. He, a dying man, told me some of his greatest learned lessons along his almost a century on this earth.

He looked at me right in the eyed said, “Love everyone”. He talked about how now everything seemed so clear to him. How there was no time for anger, bitterness, and especially not contempt. That life was not only too short for it, but it does nothing but hinder your life’s growth. He told me; “you are not your job, your wage, what kind of clothes you wear, or what car you drive. All of that is just smoke and mirrors. The only thing that will be left of you on this earth, is the legacy you leave behind. That legacy, is built by every interaction you have. You can either build it in a positive way, by loving each and every person that comes into your life, or you can tear it down like the Berlin wall by treating others with hatred and disrespect. The choice is yours.”

He went on to talk about how we are all connected, and every time you do an act of hatred you not only do it to the other person but you do it to yourself. “How people treat you is their karma, how you react is yours”-Dr. Wayne W. Dyer.

The way we live lives full of abundance is not to just visualize it, and hope for the best; it is to emulate christ and be christ-like. If God made us in his image, aren’t we supposed to be like him in all ways? Next time somebody confronts you with anger, dissolve the conflict with love. Next time somebody tries to harm you, don’t retaliate back, send them love and send them on their journey. I promise, you will be amazed at how much more loving this world is, when you become a person that only gives love out to the world. As you do this the universe will not only match your love, but will multiply it by ten.

“To love is to recognize yourself in another”-Ekhart Tolle

Recognize the loving part in all of us, life is too short. Take a dying mans last piece of advice.

I love you grandpa. More than I can put into words. Rest in peace pal. I am so lucky to have known you.

Love your grandson,

Noah Kurz

Donald showered everyone he knew with his impregnable love. He set a great example to all of us how to treat your loved ones; through his wife and life partner Donath, to his three children (Dean, David (Linda), and Doreen), and to his grandchildren (Elise and Noah). He showed us the definition of hard work, not only through his words but through his actions spending 37 years before retiring at Briggs and Stratton. Donald was someone that was very wise beyond his years, even at 91, his favorite past time was passing down his hard earned knowledge to his loved ones. If any of us can be half the man Donald was, we are doing very well.