* Our community lost a friend on Oct 27. I've known Charlie Howell most of my adult life, witnessing from a distance his involvement in public policy at the local, state and national levels. Throughout those years and beyond, Charlie held to an ethic grounded in faith, the law and examples of great leaders. He had a clearer grasp of social, economic and political issues than did most of us; and he came up with imaginative proposals.
* For the past two decades, I've been in Charlie's vortex. It began with a conference he organized titled: Loving our neighbors across time. It seemed to me compelling to extend a New Testament commandment about relations among contemporaries to the asymmetrical relation among generations. Continuing that commitment, Charlie established a foundation, Trust for the future, and created Descendants' Day, June 30, to remind us of our responsibility to leave future generations a healthy planet and decent people with whom to share it.
* During those decades, Charlie contributed many thoughtful letters to the Tennessean editor and several Nashville Eye articles addressing issues of the times. When I got the news of his passing, I looked to my right where on top of a stack of papers was a copy of a year-old letter from Charlie to Gov Haslam with detailed recommendations about state and local taxes.
* In my last conversation with Charlie, more than a month ago, we discussed what course our society might take were it possible to incentivize truth telling in the national conversation. It seems like yesterday.
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