One of the best people I ever knew was my Swarthmore classmate Pete Grubmeyer, a quiet, gentle person who loved to teach and spent a lot of his off-hours helping the poor and the homeless. He did all that because of an intense Christian faith that I hope was a comfort to him as he battled a series of cancers, which finally took him out the other day.

I assume that Pete believed there’s a better life after this one. I don’t know if he was right (and you don’t either), but I am, like Raymond Smullyan, a sperotheist (one who hopes there is a God), and I hope Pete is enjoying the bliss he deserves.