The last deed I did for my best friend Dan was to carry his coffin to the cemetery today. He was light, his crippled body disproportionately small compared to the size of his heart. His physical and mental abilities were far less than most, but the amount of love and joy he gave to those around him far more.

Dan was 64 when he died. His life was one of many tragedies: He was sick as a child, almost burnt to death in an accident when he was eight and witnessed his brother's death in a sledding accident. In addition, he was mentally slow and often misunderstood. However, in the last ten years of his life he moved to the Darvell Community where slowly a change took place. He became more peaceful, more able to trust others and more able to love and be loved.

Though always unreligious, Dan felt burdened by his sinful life and by the unwise choices he had made. In the last couple years, he was able to find forgiveness and to experience complete peace. While becoming inwardly healthier he deteriorated outwardly, slowly becoming unable to walk or talk. This did not prevent him radiating his newfound joy and peace to everyone around.

I never held a conversation with Dan in which I could fully understand what he was saying. But the message of joy and childlike love he brought to me each time we met was more than words could say anyway. His wonderful sense of humour kept him going through many hard patches and helped him accept the clumsy and inadequate help I tried to offer him. Buttoning up his shirt wrong would cause him to laugh so hard his false teeth would come out! Accidentally kicking his slippers under the bed would make him collapse with laughter.

Dan was always free to be who God made him. When he was cross, he let you know. When he was sad, he would cry. When he was happy, he would laugh. And when I was with Dan, I felt free to do the same. This is why I loved Dan so much.

There are many people like Dan in this world. Unfortunately, most do not experience the happy last years that Dan did. Many are abused, used as cheap labour or discarded to psychiatric hospitals and care homes. Many babies are aborted because the world frowns on less able people. Yet I can truly say that Dan was a more complete human than I am, that he did more for others than I do and that his love and kindness to those around him was more unconditional than mine.

As I shovel the dirt into the grave, I have to praise God for Dan’s life. While for most of his life he was rejected and undervalued, Dan fulfilled the plan God had for him, and so died in complete peace. Dan will always be an example to me and always my best friend.