As a professor I’ve always believed the job contained an aura of immortality.

An educator touches the lives of their students and influences them in many ways. In my 33 years of teaching at two universities I’ve encountered many a student. Coupled with those I’ve interacted with in corporate training programs, I estimate the number exceeds 60,000. I did not experience a profound connection with all of them, but there are always a few in every class with whom a special bond is created. It has always been my contention that a professor can live on within their students. It affords them an aura of immortality.

But this special gift does not just exist within the teacher/student relationship. All of us touch others in so many ways. One’s immortality can pass from generation to generation. A mother and father’s love and guidance lives on within their children. Grandparents leave an indelible mark on their grandchildren. The medical profession saves lives, and those lives make additional contributions to the world. There are so many other professions that impact us all. If we tried to catalog these influences it would be far beyond what any of us could ever imagine.

For some, a simple act of kindness can make a difference in someone’s life. We all have the ability to live on in so many different ways.

As an author, our words touch many. Our books can be read by future generations who hold the words in their hand or digest them through digital readers. My fourth book Sense of Direction is being launched in October of 2013. When I first spoke to my publisher John Koehler at Koehler Books he asked me to characterize my newest work. I told him that my political campaign trail thriller was in the genre of Vince Flynn. It was presumptuous of me to compare my work to a best selling author who has sold over 13 million books in the United States and many more internationally. But, it was my sincere hope that it might have been the type of book that Vince Flynn (pictured above) would have wanted to read.

Unfortunately, less than a month ago, on June 19, Vince Flynn passed away at the age of 47 a victim of prostate cancer. It is a tragedy for his family to have lost him at such a young age. His readers have lost a great author and will miss the many books that will forever remain unwritten. But his 14 novels are still with us and we can still get caught up in the adventures of his main character Mitch Rapp who appears in all but one of his books. Keep reading the works of Vince Flynn – help preserve his aura of immortality.

Cash Kushel

P.S. Please comment if you have ever read one of Vince Flynn’s novels. What do believe about your own immortality and living on within the lives of others?[mc4wp-form]