Steven Groves
My father-in-law Steven Groves died today of injuries he suffered when his bicycle was hit by a car.
Steve and I did not always agree politically, be we shared a lot of the same eclecticism in our interests. I seldom found anything, no matter how arcane, that I found interesting that Steve did not as well (even if we might come to different conclusions about it). Steve had a scientist's passion for fact-based analysis, and was one of the very few people I have ever met truly willing to change his stance on an issue as he came to understand it better. My enduring memory of Steve is of him listening and questioning. He was always interested in learning more about... whatever it was that we were talking about. I can't tell you how many of my best posts on this blog evolved from a discussion I had with Steve.
Of all the people I have ever know who were actively interested in political / economic / social issues, Steve was by far the most consistent in matching his behaviors to his beliefs. A lifelong environmentalist, Steve was surely one of the few who eschewed dryers for clotheslines, power mowers for reel mowers, and cars for his bicycle. Considering this last item, one could say he died for his beliefs.
Blogging will be light this week, as my wife is back home with her family and I am playing single parent. I was working on a post last weekend in honor of my 44th birthday, to reflect on the fact that contrary to conventional wisdom that people's beliefs become pretty set with age, mine have migrated pretty far since I was 22. I will still get to this post in time.
