Goodnight, Noah

Before I put my six-year-old daughter, Betsy, to bed the other night, she said, “Daddy, why are you sad?”

“My friend Noah died today,” I said.

“Who was Noah?” she asked.

I thought for a minute and told her this story.

Once upon a time there was a man who lived in a far-off village, and his name was Noah Gregoropoulos. Noah was a teacher, though he never wanted to be one because his father was one.

His father, who was named Del, was so respected that the townspeople referred to him as a master.

Even when Noah was still young, the townspeople started going to Noah seeking his wisdom and approval. When Noah’s father died at 100, the townspeople came to Noah and asked him if he would be their teacher.

Noah thought for a minute, and said in his deep, booming voice, “Yes, I will be your teacher, but under one condition. Do not call me a master. Do not put me on pedestal or worship me like a false God. I am like you. I will always be like you. I will continue to play in the fields and perform the same tasks you do. This will keep me humble and will ensure that I will continue to learn.”

The townspeople agreed, and Noah taught during the day, and he worked beside the townspeople at night and on weekends, for he knew this would make him a better teacher and artist.

Soon thousands of people came to the village from all over the land to study with the teacher.

Some would leave the village, taking what they had learned from the teacher and receive accolades and accumulate great wealth.

He never took credit for their successes. He was stoic in nature. He became respected, admired, and beloved by the townspeople as their teacher, just like his father. He was content.

But there had always been one thing missing from his life. The teacher did not have someone to share his life with. He had always longed for a fair maiden, a partner. You see, when Noah was a child his mother got sick and died. He did not want to experience that kind of loss again. He did not want to get hurt again. So he tried to avoid falling in love so that wouldn’t happen, even though part of him wished for it.

But that changed one night when he met a beautiful maiden named Linda.

They fell in love and eventually wed.

They moved into a small cottage with a dog. They were about to live happily ever after, but after a few years, the teacher got an incurable sickness and was going to die.

The news spread quickly among the townspeople, and they sent messages of love and gratitude to Noah and Linda’s small cottage. But there were so many messages, and the teacher was so weak that he could not read them all. Some of the townspeople wanted to see their teacher one last time, but he was a proud man and did not want that, so they respected his wishes.

Love is stronger than a message or seeing someone in person for the last time. It is in your heart. It is always there. The love the townspeople had for their teacher was so strong, that they believed that gave him the strength to die gracefully.

And after his death, the teacher taught the townspeople the most important lesson of all.

As the townspeople grieved his lost, they began consoling each other, and at that the end of every conversation one person would say, “I love you,” to which the other person would say, “I love you.” This was happening not only in the village, but throughout the land. Their love for their teacher had now spread to each other.

In his death, the teacher taught his greatest lesson: That love comes from being a part of a community. And this would be one of his greatest contributions.

Good night Betsy, and good night Noah.

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