YURI RASOVSKY
JULY 29, 1944 to JANUARY 18, 2012
Part 1 in a 2 part series...
We lost a good friend three days ago. We knew that his end was eminent, as he had been put on hospice. However, we had planned to fly to Los Angeles to say, "good bye" before he passed. And so, I process sorrow through words.
As I was putting on my face in the bathroom, preparing for the day's meetings at work, Craig entered and said, "I have some sad news." I knew that it was about Yuri, and immediately burst into tears.
Yuri Rasovsky cannot be encapsulated with words. Rabelasian in his bigger-than-lifeness, he said what he thought - and he thought a lot, perhaps constantly. My niece, who had learned to appreciate Yuri's many quirks, commented, "Yuri didn't have a filter." Whatever entered his brain was delivered directly out of his mouth. Mostly, that which exited his mustachioed orafice was witty, clever, sardonic, often critical, sometimes hilarious, and never boring.
Yuri was brilliantly autodidactic. A high school dropout and a voracious reader, he knew and deeply connected with mythology from seemingly all cultures and eras. His stellar memory allowed him to rattle off characters and plots for any piece of classic literature that one could name. I envied his memory, his focus, his confidence, his endless energy, his awareness of and passion for his calling.
Death always provides the opportunity to reflect on life. Do I know what my calling is? Do I pursue it with passion, as did Yuri? Or, am I content to task my way through life, never "laying hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ?" Like Yuri, I, too, want to pursue my gifts with passion.
To read a bit more about Yuri Rasovsky, see attached links:
Spot on with your description of Yuri. Nice work!
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