On October 31 my mentor and friend Kenn Hermann died of brain cancer — glioblastoma. I have been reflecting over the last couple of weeks on what Kenn passed on to me and so many others. I think about how I live me life now and what I’m passing on to my seven-year-old daughter, Simone and I’ve realized how many things can be traced back to ideas Kenn introduced to me, or from authors (Kenn spoke of authors as mentors of his) that he introduced me to. But Kenn did not just pass on factoids of information (“David, true information, in-forms you, forms you from the inside out,” Kenn would say), but more fundamentally he taught me how to think. How to think critically and christianly. We have a joyous responsibility to cultivate the life of the mind. It was interesting when I met others at Kenn’s memorial service how many others echoed that phrase, “Kenn taught me how to think”.
So, I’m asking myself now, and to all those who learned under Kenn, “What does it mean to be heirs of Kenn Hermann?”. How do we cultivate what was planted in us by Kenn? And take time like a good gardener to be attentive and to care what we have been given?
[this phrase 'an heir of something valuable' is from a Mark Baurlein (sp?) interview that I heard on MarsHillAudio today]
