Christo on Mum and Pup
In today’s Sunday Times Magazine Christopher Buckley has an affectionate, funny, poignant piece on his parents Patricia and William Buckley. Here is the ending:
Recently, I was driving behind a belchy city bus and suddenly found myself thinking, not for the first time, about whether Pup is in heaven. He spent so much of his life on his knees in church, so much of his life doing the right thing by so many people, a thousand acts of generosity. I hesitate to put it this way, but I’m dying of curiosity: how did it turn out, Pup? Were you right, after all? Is there a heaven? Is Mum there with you? Grumbling, almost certainly, about the “inedible food,” and saying, “Bill, you’ve got to speak to that absurd St. Peter creature about getting Christopher in — I mean, it’s all too ridiculous for words.”
Wow. I guess the rich do live differently than the rest of us. But dying, alas, involves the same sorrows and separations.
Okay, it’s the weekend. . . . a slightly related story. . . . When I was a grad student at Yale, in the late 1980′s, I wrote a letter to the NYT on the use of condoms to prevent HIV–arguing the principle of double effect. It was published, to my surprise, and delight.
But even more delightful, and surprising, to a graduate student toiling in obscurity, was a column that Buckley wrote about my letter.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n2_v40/ai_6323575/
He called me a “scholarly lady. . . ”
That made my day . . .whom am I kidding. . . my entire month.
“a graduate student toiling in obscurity”
ah, chère Cathleen, toi? jamais, jamais!
Good post, Fr. I. My mother drew my attention to the article as well. (She knows I am probably the biggest WFB fan in all of Hoboken.) For the New Yorkers here: A coworker informed me that it is now safe to read Christopher Buckley’s novels on NYC subways without fear for your life (because of his presidential endorsement). I recommend Boomsday.
I liked article too. But having been raised just a few miles over the line from the Buckleys my present contentment was reinforced because my Irish blue collar family was more together, faithful, and ‘richer’ then what Christerpher experienced
Christopher Buckley has a share of the family talent, no question. You can’t help but feel for him. But I hope that years from now, when he is older, and maybe sees things a little differently. he won’t regret having written this piece right now.
What ever happened to pietas erga parentes?