Herschel was the seventh son of the seventh son. From an early age Herschel heard people remarking on this fact. It puzzled him. Big deal, he thought. I get the hand me downs from the handed down. But then he thought, But I have enough, and I have parents who love me and six brothers to complete my life. I am blessed.
As his life progressed Herschel progressed as well. He grew to manhood, married and started a family of his own. He lived in an ordinary town and worked at an ordinary job. And still people remarked that there should be something special about a seventh son of a seventh son. But Herschel said, I have many people whom I love and who love me, I have enough. I am just an ordinary man. Nothing special here.
Herschel completed his career and retired, dandled his grandchildren on his knee and watched them grow to adulthood. Though fame and great riches never attached themselves to this man, he was happy Then the realization that he was mortal crept in as the aging process and the diseases of old age began to take a grip on him. People said, Oh, Herschel, you will live forever. You are the seventh son of the seventh son. But Herschel knew he would not live forever, and that became more distinctly clear as the months passed by. So Herschel decided to write his own obituary. He sealed it and placed it with his important papers and gave directions to his wife and his children as to how to find it and expressed his wish that it be used in place of the boilerplate the funeral homes tend to write.
Then Herschel died.
His wishes were honored, and without the particulars, we here present the final paragraph of what this man wrote.
"Throughout my long life, I was often reminded that as the seventh son of the seventh son I might expect great things and blessings beyond measure. I have lived an ordinary life, I have loved and I have been loved. My life was filled with enough. So indeed I have been blessed beyond measure. Let this inscription be engraved on my tombstone:
HERE LIE THE EARTHLY REMAINS OF AN ORDINARY MAN.
Herschel possessed the magical power of contentment, and in that Herschel was an extraordinary man.
