The passing of a great soul

Caught off-guard by the news that Madeleine L’Engle passed away yesterday. She was an amazing writer, of fiction (and not just for children; the broken characters in A Severed Wasp still haunt me), of nonfiction, of spiritual explorations -- I feel very lucky to have had the chance to meet her at a "Master's tea" while in college, and to have found her just as thoughtful and gracious in person as in her writing.

"Why does anybody tell a story?" Ms. L’Engle once asked, even though she knew the answer.

"It does indeed have something to do with faith," she said, "faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically."

I think your words mattered to a lot of people, Ms. L'Engle. Thanks for sharing all great stories, and all the searches for meaning, high and low. We only wish there could have been more.

(via boing boing)