My accountant died last week.
By all measures, he was old.
He was a good man, worked hard.
Lots of accounting.
Late nights.
Tax season.
Estate planning.
Expense reports.
Actuary tables.
Every day, His whole life.
Until last week
When the final tally was balanced out.  

So, in light of the end of Roger,
Let’s consider some options.
Consider project management.
Consider the flow rates of effluent.
Besides accounting, it was one of Roger’s favorites.
Consider the application of dental sealants,
Consider the importance of OSHA compliance,
The joy of well-appointed urinalysis.
Think about the excitement of a good
Clean podiatric exam,
I know Roger did. 
At the funeral his Doc said he had the metatarsals of a 20-year-old.
Every day. His whole life.  
Still, you might want to consider some other options, too.

Think about Chet Baker playing Autumn Leaves.
It’s sublime.  

Look at Guernica by Picasso.
Maybe you already have.
I can hear the horses dying in the mud, eviscerated.
It blows my mind.
But I think Roger somehow missed that one.  

Spend some time reading Whitman. 
How on earth did that man live and write in 19th century America?  

And Charlie Parker’s choice of
Melodic substitutions in Au Privave
Are an expression of mastery, love.  

Listen to the analog recordings of
Segovia from the early 20th century. 
I can still hear his asthmatic wheeze,
The string squeaks when he changes left hand position.
So Intimate, so personal.
The gentle soul of the maestro In the pops and hisses of vinyl,
A window into prewar Linares, Andalusia.  

When he did my taxes last year
Roger told me he liked Lee Greenwood.
A window into postwar Branson, Missouri.  

Those are some of your choices, then, 
But the decision seems pretty obvious,
Don’t you think?
Go make art.
Make a living at it.
There’s money to be made.
Seriously. 
There is.
Will you become Chet Baker?
Probably not.
Will you become Picasso?
I hope not, the man was an ass.
But my God, he could paint.

But you WILL show the world s
Smething new.
A remarkable thing after 
four and a half billion years.
What ELSE is there?
As Vladimir Ilyich once wondered,
What is to be done?

Go bust your ass and don’t be a fool.
Stay sober, you don’t want to fall out of a window
Too high to manage gravity like Chet.
Dedicate yourself and study.
That’s what engineers do.
That’s what hygienists do.
That’s what accountants do.
You can, too.
Just like Chet.
Just like Charlie.
Just like Pablo.
Just Like Andre.
Just like dear Uncle Walt,
And just like Roger,
An example for us all,
Every day, His whole life.