Five years after Wellstone's death

It's weird...it seems like every year on October 26, I post some sort of reflection about the life of Sen. Paul Wellstone, who died five years ago today in a plane crash (along with his wife and daughter, three campaign workers and a pilot).

My favorite Wellstone words still stick with me today: Never separate the life you live from the words you speak. It's a challenge I still find difficult to live up to today, as I imagine most people even tangentially involved in politics do.

Though I'm not crazy about politico.com, they have a nice piece today on Wellstone's legacy, five years after his death. For me, I recall a Senator who called me up on my cell phone when my mom had her stroke, and listened to me burst into tears. I recall a Senator who marched with me in Stillwater, MN during one of the ugliest parades I've ever been in (people actually started spraying the Senator with a hose!). And I recall a Senator who told us during the campaign: “The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines. The future will not belong to the cynics. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

So on this day, it seems only appropriate to remember Wellstone's words, that the future belongs to those with passion. As Mark Twain once said, "Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great." That was Wellstone. And that's what I remember every October 25.