This week’s Legacy video hurt. We have lost people whose lives have touched us in profound ways, folks whose kind will never pass this way again.

Bob Newhart, in addition to being the king of deadpan comedy, was also a U.S. Army war veteran who served during the Korean War (1950-1953). Every veteran we lose hurts us in ways most people can never understand.

We lost Shannen Doherty, an actress I rarely saw, but who I had read negative things about. Things like she was childish and demanding. People who say such things often end up having those very things said about them. Her passing reminds me of the importance of kindness in speech and deed, even if we feel that someone is unworthy of it. Maybe that’s when kindness counts the most, like Jesus said. I thought she was pretty and a good actress. What more did I need to know? Pray for family and friends who have loved and lost, for you may one day know their pain.

Richard Simmons may have stirred discomfort in people, but that’s nothing compared to the lives he inspired and, in turn, saved. He made ordinary people believe that they could overcome what had seemed impossible, and that is a legacy we should all want for ourselves.

When we lose friends and family, we are devastated. When we lose our heroes, icons of culture, and those we admire from a distance, part of us goes with them.

This is a prayer for all who mourn the loss of heroes, cultural icons, and those who inspired us and kept us going through tough times with laughter, the spectacle of sports competition, and wanted us all to be better than we thought we could be. May God comfort those who have lost those so dear, and may He welcome the new souls to Heaven, give them rest and peace.

Amen.