Fred: A story with a punchline

Fred was my brother who died from

a heart attack in the shower a few years ago.

My first thought when I heard the news was:

“Good, he’s dead.”

My second thoughts were that, the fact that he

died when he did and how he did were the most

compassionate acts he ever did for anyone else,

and the greatest gift to his family. 

“What?” you ask, “You didn’t love your brother?”

Let’s start to put it this way: I didn’t know I loved

my mother until after she was dead.

I never loved my brother. When we got a little

older, we constantly got into serious fights, and

I wanted to kill him. Once, I had the opportunity,

and was just about to kill him, when, suddenly,

a thought came into my mind: “It’s not your

decision whether he lives or dies.”

I just realized while writing this, that that 

thought that came to me 60 years ago, didn’t 

come from my mind.