Obviously, the COVID pandemic is doing a lot of damage to our daily lives.
Public events – cancelled and prohibited.
Dining out in restaurants – not happening. Grab that burger or Chinese take-out to go.
Getting together with extended family – nope, that’s a no-no right now too.
It’s amazing how much this whole situation has taken away from us in such a short time. I think some of us are realizing how much we may have taken for granted, whether it’s the freedom to get together with that family or with close friends, or the simple act of sitting in a local restaurant for a meal.
But there’s something else that we’re not talking about right now, something else that has been robbed of us during the pandemic.
The right to grieve properly and say goodbye.
Death certainly hasn’t stopped during the pandemic; in fact, it’s been a horrific end result of it in far too many cases. But even right here at home and outside the effects of the pandemic, people continue to pass on and their families are forced to make arrangements at an unprecedented and intensely bizarre time in our world.
Those arrangements, however, become very tight-knit and exclusive since funerals and celebrations of life welcoming extended family and the general public aren’t happening.
I bring this up because one of this community’s most understated and well-liked individuals passed away recently, and I feel that the COVID pandemic has robbed all of us of the chance to say goodbye and pass on our well wishes to this person’s family.
I’m talking about Outlook’s own Ed Li, who sadly passed away just one day after his 69th birthday. If you grew up in or around Outlook, the odds are very good that you enjoyed many of his tasty treats from the Outlook Bakery, which he owned and ran for over 30 years.
Ed's son Alex has been one of my best friends for almost 20 years. My heart aches for everyone. Ed was quiet and humble, but his impact on Outlook and area was massive. He kept generations of people fed well with his amazing skills in the Outlook Bakery, and his dedication to his work was incredible. I can remember some very, VERY late nights spent in Outlook with my "crew" that technically turned into mornings where I'd find myself driving down Franklin Street, and sure enough, there was Ed's white pickup in front of the bakery at 4:30 in the morning. He didn't whine, he didn't complain, he just did the work because he had a public that demanded a product that only he could provide. A damn good one, too.
Just a side note here, but I’m curious if anyone can solve a bit of trivia that I’m trying to figure out. Who remembers the old bread bags from the bakery? If you do, do you remember the slogan that was featured on them, “Best Bread by a Dam Site!” Maybe I have the wording a bit wrong. Did Ed come up with that slogan? A previous staff member? Perhaps I can leave this bit of trivia up to some of you more ‘well-seasoned’ readers!
As I said, one of the things that's heartbreaking about the COVID pandemic situation that we don't talk about is the fact that when someone passes, we can't all get together in a standard funeral setting to properly grieve, mourn, and celebrate the lives of those who are no longer with us. Some of those people were pillars of their respective communities, and in my book, Ed Li was indeed a pillar of the community of Outlook. For 33 years, he was the man who made sure there was bread on your table, a cake for that special occasion, and all sorts of other baked goods that made life just a little bit sweeter.
Nothing would make me happier or be more appropriate than to be under the same roof as my friend Alex, give him a hug, clap him on the back, and tell him in-person how much his father meant to this community. Alex was there for me when my own father passed in 2013, and this unforgiving pandemic has robbed me of the opportunity to hold up my end.
I hope the Li family knows how admired and respect Ed was, and I hope that anyone else who loses a family member or a friend during this unpredictable time in our lives knows that while we may not be able to get together and grieve, the impact that the departed made will not be forgotten.
There’s a lot that this pandemic can take away. It will not, however, take away our need to comfort those who are in pain.
For this week, that’s been the Ruttle Report.
