An hour's tribute

I run a martial arts school in Pennsylvania. On the evening after Terry Pratchett passed, I started class by telling my students "People's whole lives do pass before their eyes just before they die. The process is called living," and that they had only one chance to make it a life they would be proud of, and that every hour wasted would be an hour they regretted.



I worked them hard and littered the class with similar quotes and remarks. I ran my beginners through a number of jiujitsu takedowns. I had them free spar.

At the end of class, with five minutes to go, I called them back to line and told them I was going to share something personal. I put them down for push ups and got down on my knuckles. I told them "Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened," and that they should strive to live so that they will know the answer to that question, and will smile when they think of it. I told them to do sixty-six push ups, and to take their time and make them perfect. I did mine slowly on two knuckles in the grout of a tile floor. I told them to take a knee when they finished, and when everyone was done, I told them to now do four more, of whatever kind of push up they like best, and to put everything into them. In silent unison, they joined me on the tile and followed as I counted slowly.

When we finished, I stood them up and told them why. I said that a very great man had died, a man who had done wonderful things for the world and touched many lives. An author, philosopher, mentor, and philanthropist whose work played a tremendous role in shaping my character. I told them that Terry Pratchett passed away at only sixty-six years old. When I followed that up by saying that in those sixty-six years he completed seventy novels, there were audible gasps. I said that is inner strength, and that was why we honored him tonight, and I ended class. The students were all suitably somber and satisfied, and I think a few of them will be starting to read his wonderful work in the next few days.