Anyway the real point of this thought entry was his attitude towards religion. He was a devout Catholic, went to Church & attended Mass very regularly , prayed regularly and literally knew every word of the Bible but not once in my entire association with him did I ever hear him 'spout' or 'preach' religion.
I am a Zoroastrian who has married into a Catholic family but being of a different religion never came up in a discussion with him at any point of time. It was not only the spoken word but also in his actions towards me.
He spoke about values, honesty, family, not to encourage corruption but never really initiated a discussion about one's religion, Christianity or Zoroastrianism, their differences and whether one was better than the other. Sure we could discuss particulars about a certain religion but his general outlook never included the differentiation of people based on religion.
This I think defines being religious.. here was a man so deeply into his religion, have so much faith in his religion, living by the principals as defined by his religion but never imposing it on anyone else. He considered it his own personal belief and it did not go beyond that. Live and let live always seemed to be his advice.
We don't see this too often do we ... ? Someone so orthodox & conservative yet restricting the views & beliefs to oneself and not forcefully imposing it on others.... I think he truly understood what religion stands for and I wish there were more like him. The world would be such a peaceful place.
Dadsee, if I had a glass in my hand I would say "I miss you but Cheers to you ! & let the good times rock."
