My friend George Robertson (Pooker/Pooka) used to host football players at his farm in Lafayette back in the day. I met him when I was 10 and we became fast friends. When I could drive, I’d often visit his house. His parents home he occupied that he inherited burned to the ground so he moved into the small farm tenant quarters. Everyone always asked him when he would build it back. He always asked “why would I do that?”. The memories of that home were still ever present in his mind, and to rebuild on that foundation would be a mockery of what was once there. He never shut his door, and left the screen door unlocked. Many a night or morning I woke him to come pull me out of the mud hole I managed to get stuck in. He never complained. He took the opportunity while driving to my wreckage to ask me how I was doing. Ask me if there was anything that was missing in my life, or if there was anything I wanted to celebrate with him. From the time I was 10 until I was 41, he always greeted me the same way. “What have you done for the good of the world today?” Without fail that was his greeting. I laughed at it every time and never really listened. I didn’t realize he was really asking that question with his greeting. We shot dove, we cooked steaks, we drank whiskey, and we picked corn. We got dirty and then we got clean. He was the uncle I always wanted. The week before he died he had a request for me. His speech was hard to process and deliver. After a few tries he managed “cook me a damn hamburger!”. He had long crowned me the king of burgers before I was 20. I went to the farm and made one for Pooka and one for his caretaker. Took a side of baked beans and potato salad. When I got back he was ready to eat. He was tired of trying to talk, so he gave me a hug and a smile as best he could. I left so he could eat. He didn’t want me to see his struggle to eat and be assisted to be fed. He died a week later. Finally it hit me. “What have you done for the good of the world today?”. He lived his life without complaining, and literally left his door open. He gave inspiration to everyone he came across. All those years I laughed at his greeting, and he never quit asking. He never quit being available for a dinner, a drink, or just a conversation. I leave you with this: be a friend to all that are around you, and do not judge. Have an open door to any in need. Ask yourselves everyday and ask those around you “what have you done for the good of the world today”.
