Have you heard of the Ramones?  Widely considered to be the founders of punk rock, the Ramones burned a brief yet influential flame amidst the candles of contemporary music in the Seventies.  Related not by name but common cause, the Ramones produced some of the rawest rock and roll music the genre had yet seen.  Bitter, rebellious, questioning, and filled with angst, their songs touched countless hearts, hearts disappointed with the state of an empty and helpless existence, hearts burned by the promises of a distant and opaque economic and political establishment.  The Ramones were an inevitable response to difficult times.
     Sadly, however, after breaking up in 1997, one by one, the four members of the band passed on.  Joey died of lymphoma in 2001; Dee Dee of a heroin overdoes in 2002. Johnny succumbed to prostate cancer in 2004, and Tommy to cancer of the bile duct in 2014. Tommy was 65; Joey was 49.  In almost every way, it was a tragic end to a band built on the premise of a life guaranteeing the same.
     We all wrestle with angst; we all struggle with uncertainty and doubt.  We all wonder what life is about.  We all grapple with the fact of our presence in an often bewildering existence.  And we should:  life is far from simple.
     And believing in God doesn't necessarily make life any less so.  In fact, it often makes life even more complex.  Faith is difficult.  I appreciate the depth of the Ramones' beliefs, I value the enormity of their honest struggle.  Together, they were willing to take on life for what it is:  to wit, apart from any external purpose, a wisp of air atop a windless sea.
     Whatever you believe life to be, be sure, be absolutely sure that it is what you think. Finitude is grand, yes, but ultimately finitude is a journey of inexplicable smoke and unfathomable mirrors.
     Rest all, Ramones.