September 24: Life

I have just learned of certain recent deaths. In honour of these souls, I'd like to share what made me smile about them today.

1. Anita Roddick, Founder, Body Shop, who believed that businesses have the power to do good. ‘The most exciting part of my life is now – I believe the older you get, the more radical you become.’

2. Luciano Pavarotti, Tenor. ‘Learning music from a score, he once said, was ‘like making love by mail.’’

3. Ken Danby, Artist. Best-known in Canada for his iconic 1972 hockey painting ‘At the Crease.’

‘We do not see with our eyes, but through them. The mind does the actual seeing, and it can only evaluate a visual experience according to its degree of visual awareness. Every person who is capable of sight deserves to have this faculty expanded, as part of the process of enlightenment, just as much as being taught to speak, hear, read or reason. Art is a necessity.’