Editorial Comments are provided by the writer in their personal capacity and without prior sight of journal content.
In July 2016, my CYC-Online column was a tribute to Jack Phelan (https://cyc-net.org/cyc-online/jul2016.pdf#page=7). He was alive and well at the time, and I wanted to write it to make sure that he knows how much he is appreciated, loved, and adored by others in our field. Over the past few days, tributes to Jack have been everywhere as CYC people all over the world mourn his passing. I don’t know what else to say. Jack gave everything to this field, to the people in the field, and early in his career, to the young people he encountered. He lived this field. He lived the mantra I learned from Thom Garfat: ‘child and youth care is a way of being in the world’, and the way Jack was in this world is the reason I continue to support our field, write about it, and find my own ways of being in the world that reflect this field.
Life is precious because it doesn’t last forever. Jack challenged this simple truth for a very long time. One of the last things he did was to attend a child and youth care conference. I think he knew the end was near. And he wanted to exit on a foundation of love. And that he did as only Jack could do.
Farewell, my friend. May you dream of dancing in Cape Town, drinking in Winnipeg, and setting the record straight in Taos, New Mexico. I will raise a glass to you at the next child and youth care conference I attend.
In sadness, but with love …
Kiaras
