Robert Simpson: On the positive side

They’re still writing about Arnold Palmer. Not just because he was a superb golfer, which he was, but because he impressed the public over many years as a decent, likeable, warm individual. His was a positive personality, never negative.

Palmer was a fellow Wake Forest alumnus. He came to college there from a blue-collar town in western Pennsylvania on a golf scholarship. I claim no personal connection to him, only an occasional form letter with his signature over the years as he helped raise funds for the university. I clearly remember the first time I ever heard of him, in 1954. A classmate saw me in the college bookstore and said, “Did you hear? Arnold just won the tournament in Detroit.” And I said, “Arnold who?” I would never ask that question again.

He grew up among working class people. He made, in his lifetime, some $7 million playing professional golf and many times that through investments in a variety of businesses. Yet he seemed never to lose the common touch, and he radiated enjoyment in the game and pleasure in contact with people both low and high. We often admire and praise those who make it big even when many of them are hard-driving, self-centered, bullying tyrants. It’s nice to be able to admire and praise someone who made it big while retaining his humanity, becoming as famous for being a great guy as for being a great golfer.

You don’t have to become rich and famous, though, to portray the best traits of humans instead of the worst. Five days after Arnold Palmer died on September 25, a woman exhibiting similar traits died in Detroit. The Reverend Doctor Wilma Johnson, pastor of the New Prospect Missionary Baptist Church for 17 of her 42 years as a woman pioneer in the ministry, died of lung cancer. If there’s anything that can intensify the cruelty of this cancer, it might be the fact that she was not a smoker.

My daughter and her husband are pastors of a church in Ann Arbor, a little less than an hour from Detroit. They knew Dr. Johnson, which is how I came to know a bit about her. While neither she nor Arnold Palmer came from wealthy backgrounds, her own beginnings were somewhat more threatening than his. An African-American born to teenaged parents under a bridge in 1951, she somehow rose above her background, became educated, became a preacher, and both preached and demonstrated an unvaryingly positive outlook on life. Dr. Johnson’s big thing was joy. She preached joy. She wrote two books about joy. If you saw her frequent, stand-alone comments on Facebook, they exuded joy in living, serving, worshiping. She practically shouted encouragement to the world, while dying of lung cancer without complaint.

Dr. Johnson invited my daughter, Stacey, to lead a workshop at the Detroit church, part of a two-day women’s conference called “Bringing Out The Best in You.” Of the 250 attendees, about 60 were in the workshop — clergy, deacons, lay persons, all kinds. All except Stacey were African-American. They were uniformly warm and receptive of her participation, uniformly portraying the teachings of Dr. Johnson, whom they all held in high esteem. Sad to say, the event took place a week after her death, but her spirit hovered over it and inspired it.

Dr. Johnson’s vibrant personality and consistently positive outlook on life were reflected in the two books she wrote, in her upbeat postings on social media, and in the reflection of her example by the attendees to the conference she had organized shortly before her death. I’m confident that it is also reflected in the lives of many touched by her during 42 years of Christian ministry. Somewhat similar to the way many of us are encouraged to a positive outlook on life by the upbeat life of Arnold Palmer.

When I consider these two lives, the wealthy and world-famous golfer and the not wealthy and not world-famous woman preacher, I am reassured that maybe the human race is not beyond redemption after all.

This story was originally published October 15, 2016 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Robert Simpson: On the positive side."