Photo: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty
Speaking in front of friends, family and admiring leaders — including PresidentJoe Biden, First LadyJill Bidenand others who’ve led the country — Powell gave a touching eulogy for his father, whodied at 84 on Oct. 18from complications of COVID-19.
“The example of Colin Powell does not call on us to emulate his resume which is too formidable for mere mortals,” his son said of his father’s distinguished career as a four-star general, the country’s first Black secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “It is to emulate his character and his example as a human being. We can strive to do that. We can choose to be good.”
“We walk through this life holding hands with the ones we love. They guide us. They pull us out of harms way. They touch and caress us with love and kindness,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion.
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty
“The last night of his life I walked in to see him. Now he was the one lying in an ICU bed. He could not see or speak to me, so I took his hand just as he had taken mine decades before,” MIchael said. “I knew everything was not going to be okay. I wanted him to be at peace. Again, I felt my father’s love in that hand.”
Before he left the podium, Michael quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
Then, Michael said, “My father made a monumental difference. He lived. He lived well.”
source: people.com
