Eulogy - Integration Assignment #3 Prof. Reaume Moreau FYE 4 March 2022 Lasting Footsteps: The Road to Tomorrow We all gather here today to celebrate and remember the life of John Charles Scheller. Those who know John can agree when say with full confidence that he is one of the most unassuming but boisterous, personable but sometimes disagreeable, and kind but maybe too much, people I have ever met in my life. John, towards the end of his life, lived and embodied the sentiment to leave each day like it is your last. And that is exactly what he did. He never took a day for granted and he lived his life to the fullest – each waking moment in hopes of producing the most amount of good and happiness he could. John grew up in a small town outside of Phoenix, Arizona, to two loving parents – Matthew and Cynthia Scheller. He was born the third of four, having three other siblings – Sara, Matthew, and Megan. Growing up, John had an amazing childhood. He was provided with everything a child could need, and he began his education in pre-school at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Grade School (where his mother worked as principal for eight years). Throughout his elementary and middle school years, John’s development sprouted, and those around him were beginning to visibly see the potential that he had. After his success in middle school, John ventured on to his father’s alma mater, Brophy College Preparatory, a place John would soon call his own. As the younger brother of a current Brophy junior, John’s freshman year was nothing he wrote home about. Going to a prestigious high school, John suffered from comparisons he made to other students, and he fell into a dark part of his life. It was only until he took a step back from hyper-analyzing every aspect of his life that he began to find himself again. “It’s easy to feel as if we’re standing two inches away from a huge canvas that’s noisy and crowded and changing with every microsecond. It’s only by stepping farther back and standing still that we can begin to see what that canvas (which is our life) really means, and to take in the larger picture” (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week One). This is one of the most important lessons John learned in life. Because it is not at all about what other people think about your life; it is your life. Ever since John was a freshman at Brophy, those around him noticed a change in him – a change that affected how he interacted with them, showed his emotion towards them, and reciprocated his love. Recognizing this change within himself was one of the most important lessons John ever learned. Once he took a couple of steps away from the painting that was his life, he could see it for what it truly looked like. And that’s an amazing thing. Through this self-realization came with it change. John started to become more of the person that he wanted to be. Every effort he made and every interaction he had was purposeful. It was the first step in him firstly believing in the person he wanted to become, and actually becoming it. Fr Hesburgh once said, “The assumption people have is that every time you have change, it's bad. I say my assumption is that change is the price of progress” (“Hesburgh” by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley - Moreau FYE Week Two). This was something that John took to heart and never let go of. Because change is not something that should be frowned upon or something that people try to avoid – change is necessary. Because with change comes the insight of knowing who you were before along with the knowledge of how you are better now. That is something John would want everyone to take away from his life – that he changed himself for the better. Another tenet of life that John deeply believed in is the development of your gifts and talents intertwined with your vocation for the good of others. As Boston College theologian Fr. Michael Himes once said, “Is this something that taps into your talents and gifts—engages all of your abilities—and uses them in the fullest way possible?” (“Three Key Questions” by Fr. https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ Michael Himes - Moreau FYE Week Three). This is something John believed wholeheartedly. He would always remind us that over the course of our lives, we are constantly learning. We are learning about ourselves, and learning about the world and others around us. One of the greatest things we could ever learn is about how we can foster the talents and skills we have been given in the service of others. John learned this about himself in his freshman year of undergrad at Notre Dame. In his Moreau First-Year Experience course, he was pushed beyond his boundaries of comfort to really challenge what he sees from his life ten, fifteen, twenty years down the road. He was forced to become vulnerable and let go of any unrealistic dreams he had about his future, and he allowed the gifts he was blessed with by God to tap into his life – his ambitions and desires. And this was also the defining moment in his life when he decided he wanted to follow his grandfather’s footsteps and become a physician. This unraveled plan for John was not merely a momentary realization, rather it was every experience up to that point that had this vocation align with his life – with his morals, beliefs, and aspirations. “Every experience shapes you in some way, whether you realize it at the time or not” (“Navigating Your Career Journey” by Meruelo Family Center for Career Development - Moreau FYE Week Four). John always held that this is one of if not the most powerful way of approaching some of life’s biggest questions. We all fall into the sin of trying to control every part of our life, from family life to a career – we are all guilty. Yet this statement was so important to John because at its root is the basis for his life motto as many of you might know: “everything happens for a reason.” I would bet the over that probably 50% of you gathering here today have heard him say that at one point in his life. It is what he believed most in life simply because it is true. Beyond its metaphorical meaning, it is true. No matter what obstacle you might go up against in life, no matter what challenge comes your way, John would just tell you that it’s all OK… because it was meant to be that way. John also lived his life with the belief that life is not so much about status and money as it is about making people happy in life, being a good person, and letting that define you. So https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ often in our lives do we look to other people’s success and we envy them. This causes nothing but pain and suffering because its primary byproduct is you drawing lines between people. You see others as the ones who “made it” and those who didn’t. This was something John stood behind to the very end. So often in life do we make these walls that exclude ourselves from others. “There are lines that get drawn, and barriers erected, meant only to exclude” (“Tattoos on the Heart” by Fr. Greg Boyle - Moreau FYE Week Seven). And these barriers do nothing for us except weigh us down. John lived his life to the fullest by tearing down each of these walls with the hope of creating a genuine connection with every person he meets. This ties into a piece of advice that his older sister, Sara, once told him as a freshman in college: “The world is full of superficial people that try to sell you the idea that status and material things bring you happiness. Status is not more important than the way you treat people. Material things or even what you achieve in life means nothing if you’re not humble” (“Sister Advice” by Sara Scheller - Moreau FYE Week Five). This is everything that John lived by. His life was devoted to the understanding that true happiness comes not from worldly things but from within – how we treat other people and how we express our happiness. And this advice came at the perfect time for John when he heard this as a college student at Notre Dame because he was in the middle of discerning between a career in medicine or business. And with this piece of advice, his mindset became firm on the career that would allow him to help the most amount of people, truly using each of his talents to the fullest – and that was in medicine. As was echoed throughout this eulogy, there were so many parts of John’s life that are memorable and are beautiful to share. Yet, if there was one thing that he would want everyone to take away from this celebration of his life, it is that life is not about complaining about what we aren’t able to do or what we don’t have, it is about making the most out of what we do have. “I want to encourage all of us to just focus on what we can do for others, or what we can do already, instead of what we cannot do or what we do not have yet” (“5 Minutes” by The Grotto - Moreau FYE Week Six). Because this is precisely the key to life well-lived – a life that John lived https://www.amazon.com/Tattoos-Heart-Power-Boundless-Compassion/dp/1439153159 https://www.amazon.com/Tattoos-Heart-Power-Boundless-Compassion/dp/1439153159 https://grottonetwork.com/make-an-impact/transform/why-does-god-allow-suffering/?utm_source=moreau&utm_medium=class&utm_campaign=spring_2022 well. So, let us together celebrate the wonder-filled life that he did live, and pray that his soul might rest on forever. John, your song might have ended, but your melody lingers on forever. May the Lord now embrace you and hold you in his love eternally. Rest in paradise, brother.