Bill Kristol tells us that Tony Snow was an avid reader of C.S. Lewis. How marvelous! No doubt Lewis offered significant underpinning to Tony's exuberance, gratitude, and joy -- all qualities emphasized and illustrated in Lewis's own life and writings. Although it had not crossed my mind that Tony Snow was a reader of Lewis, I should have guessed it.
Following are some excerpts from Kristol's tribute, but you've got to read the whole thing; it's that good:
. . But I’ll remember Tony Snow more for his character than his career. I’ll especially remember the calm courage and cheerful optimism he displayed in his last three years, in the face of his fatal illness...
Tony was one of the nicest guys you’d ever meet — kind, helpful and cheerful. But underlying these seemingly natural qualities was a kind of choice: the choice of gratitude.Tony thought we should be grateful for what life has given us, not bitter or anxious about what it hasn’t.
So he once wrote that “If you think Independence Day is America’s defining holiday, think again. Thanksgiving deserves that title, hands-down.” He believed that gratitude, not self-assertion, was the fundamental human truth, and that a recognition of this was one of the things that made America great...
Tony once spoke at a dinner for journalists held in conjunction with the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. Cal Thomas reported on Tony’s remarks: “After his first cancer surgery, Snow said, he had to stay in bed and he began reading the Bible more, ‘learning to pray’ and to ask God to ‘draw me closer, please, [which] develops a hunger that is also a form of joy.’ ” As this last sentence hints, Tony was an avid reader of C. S. Lewis. (more. . .)
- National Review Online symposium on Tony Snow
- If anyone wants to read the bile against Tony Snow coming from the Left, you can click here.
My original post on Tony Snow can be found here.