Relationships endure and inspire

To the editor:

My mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary reminded me of the importance, beauty and lasting nature of relationships. Relationships endure, even beyond their physical existence.

Bernard and Dorothy Kluesner's 50 years together taught me, their son, that openness, acceptance, and unconditional love are key ingredients of a successful relationship. My parents demonstrated those qualities with each other, with their children and others.

A relationship lives on. It never dies. Their relationship has taught me that people and our relationships with each other are most noble at the human level, not at the political or religious level or any other level.

Good people can be on different sides of an issue. I wish there were more of that in this world -- more relationships at the human level. After all, we are all related through one human family.

Their anniversary photo that appeared in the Nov. 20 Southeast Missourian made me feel proud, and then I felt sadness at the thought that some day I won't have them around.

But I was comforted knowing that they will live on through their children and everyone else whose lives they entered.

They have inspired me to nourish my relationships with others, knowing that each person I meet, each relationship I have, will live on long after I'm gone.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for enduring, for inspiring.

DAVID KLUESNER, New York