Opinion: The small act of kindness that will always keep Alice Stewart in my thoughts

Editor’s Notice: Douglas Heye, who served because the deputy chief of employees to former Home Majority Chief Eric Cantor, is a GOP strategist. Observe him on Twitter @dougheye. The views expressed on this commentary are his personal. Learn extra opinion at CNN.

CNN
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After a dinner for Harvard’s Institute of Politics earlier this yr, Alice Stewart urged we’ve got a glass of wine. Alice was a member of the senior advisory committee on the institute, however politics by no means got here up.

As a substitute, we caught up on life. We talked about working, together with marathons she had deliberate and an upcoming Spartan race I had signed up for. As we parted firm, she mentioned, “We by no means get to do that. Let’s do it once more quickly.”

I noticed her a number of instances after that, at all times within the CNN inexperienced room, the place friends collect forward of their scheduled appearances on air. Someway, inexperienced room conversations are virtually at all times constructive, even with at present’s poisonous politics. These encounters are additionally fleeting. The push to get made up and mic’d up earlier than working to the tv studios doesn’t often go away time for longer dialog.

I’ve been in a inexperienced room with Alice a whole lot of instances; the overwhelming majority had been simply 5 or 10 minutes in period, sufficient time for a perfunctory “good to see you” earlier than transferring on, even when we had been then occurring air collectively. In all of the instances I’d seen her, even when tempers had flared on set, which may typically occur, Alice by no means misplaced her cool. She was at all times unfailingly composed and simply so good to everybody.

However she was greater than that. Alice was proactively variety.

After seeing a rant of mine on Twitter (now X) complaining a few canceled flight, she emailed me to make it possible for I had Thanksgiving plans and let me know that I used to be welcome to hitch the dinner she was making ready. It was a small gesture however mentioned a lot about her character.

I used to be shocked after I heard the devastating information Saturday about Alice’s sudden demise — she was simply 58, and staying wholesome was at all times a precedence for her. However my first ideas weren’t about her completed profession or her lengthy historical past in politics and on the marketing campaign path — and even in regards to the numerous instances we’d been on tv collectively.

I thought of that small act of kindness and generosity, providing assist to a pal probably in want. Everybody who knew Alice — and talking about her previously tense is one thing we’re all struggling to course of — undoubtedly has the same story to mine. Finally, that’s what all of us have misplaced and it’s what we are going to miss most.

Shedding Alice so immediately and so tragically affords us all what ought to be pointless reminders to inform our mates and family members that we care about them. Spend extra time with them. Above all else, it’s a reminder in regards to the significance of small gestures of kindness that may reside on lengthy after all of us are gone.