Your Last Act

Ken Lindeen

By Michael Hooper

The death of a friend has reminded me how important it is for us to give people our very best with kindness all the way to the very end of our lives.

Ken Lindeen, 68, died tragically in a house fire a couple of days after he had done work for me at my house.

Another contractor was doing some drywall work in our basement and noticed that an electrical outlet was shorting out. I called a friend of mine who recommended Ken Lindeen.  Ken came over right away and fixed the outlet, which was ungrounded. He also fixed other outlets to make sure they were grounded. He came back another day to finish his work but had one more outlet to do and left me a message saying he would come back but he died tragically the next day on Nov. 17, 2022.

I am grateful for the kindness and generosity Ken showed me in his last days of his life.  Indeed, he first showed up on a Saturday, typically a day off, but he came out to help me.

Recently,  a former employer’s spouse died. I recall the last time I tried to talk to her, she was stuck up, better than thou, and wanted nothing to do with me even after I tried my charming best to win her over, she left a bad taste in my mouth, and to this day, I can’t get rid of it. She can’t make up for all the mistakes that she made being an elitist. She can't offer any apologies. It's too late. She's dead.

My friend Ken was no elitist for sure. Indeed, he was quite humble. He had been on top of the world when he was creative director for Payless Shoesource, but his crowning glory fell away after the death of his son in a car accident in 2001. When Ken and Chris Wright came to my house to do some floor refinishing in the early 2000s Ken was still suffering from the loss of his son. He was tearful and shaken up when he displayed his pain, but somehow he found his way and carried on like a soldier with grief just below the surface. In my last encounter with Ken, he helped me without grumbling or anger; he gave with kindness the best he had to offer.

I don’t know when I will die. No one does. But surely it will happen soon as I am approaching 60 years of age. I have made some of these same mistakes, elitism, ungratefulness, meanness, pride, arrogance, gluttony, and a few others, but I am not giving up. Redemption is possible. Jesus commands us to love God with all our heart, all our soul and all our might and to love one another as we love ourselves. There is a kindness in my soul that I want to bring out. The Beatles had it right. Love is all you need.

The lesson here is to make our last act our best one. Give when we don’t feel like giving. Help others when we don’t feel like helping. Love others when we don’t feel like loving. Take the time to call someone who could use the attention, offer an ear, don’t do all the talking, listen and love. It may be your last act.