lower your eyes to die with the sun
I can’t sleep. Tonight I found out that a fellow ID’ed and SCAD 09 grad passed away this morning. I did not know him well, but I had classes with him. In winter of 08, we took contextual research. He was absent for the first week of classes. When he returned there were whispers that he had a tumor removed. I never had any idea, until tonight, how serious his condition really was.
While I may not always have understood him, I really respect his bravery and strength. At SCAD he never showed any sign of weakness or of sickness. He did not play the sick card at all. I saw him at graduation at the end of May, about two and a half months ago and he looked absolutely normal to me.
I found out tonight that he has been fighting a very aggressive form of cancer for some time now. He was in remission for awhile but it came back, in his brain and in his lungs. This young man had to have a shunt put in his head to receive chemo. I cannot imagine being a 20 something, fresh out of college and having to go through an experience like that. To be on the brink of really forging out your life path and lose it all to such a horrible disease in unfathomable. But, it happened.
Looking back on my experiences with this person, I wish I had tried harder to get to know them beyond the superficial. Now I understand why he lived the way he lived and why he was the way he was. He pushed himself to be the best. He was active, running, going on road trips. Some people only exist. While he only had a little over 20 years on this earth, he really lived those years. I see know that he understood quality over quantity.
I regret that I did not know Will better, but I will always admire the strength I never knew he possessed until tonight.
