Breaks my heart Meg couldn’t get her flowers in person. Anxiety is horrible. Jack’s a beautiful soul.
Jack White closed his speech at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by reading a letter he recently wrote to Meg White.
"One time, a girl climbed a tree, and in that tree was a boy, her brother, she thought. The tree looked so glorious and beautiful, but it was just an oak tree.
These two so loved the world that they brought forth a parade float, one they built in their garage behind the oak tree with their own bare hands. The boy looked at this giant peppermint on wheels and felt pride — pride that it was produced in the Motor City, just like in the big factories, even though it was just their garage. He looked at the girl, his sister, he thought, and, like the Little Rascals, they said, Let's put on a show.
They paraded this float through the Cass Corridor, standing atop the peppermint pulled by white horses, or maybe it was a red Econoline van. Many of the blocks they traveled were empty, but some had people. Some of those people cheered, some laughed, and some even threw stones. With their bare hands, the two started to clap and sing and make up songs.
Some people kept watching and swaying and moving. Then one person even smiled. The boy and the girl looked at each other, and they also smiled. They both felt the sin of pride, but they kept on smiling — smiling from a new freedom, knowing that they had shared and made another person feel something.
They thought the person smiling at them was a stranger, someone they didn’t even know. But it wasn't just a stranger. It was God."
Photo by Kevin Kane / Getty Images for RRHOF