Its a very sad day for us in our home. Yesterday, my wife came home with very distressing news that a young 19 year old passed away suddenly. My daughter had grew up with this young fine man, who was a very good football player, had a heart of gold when it came back to giving to underprivileged children, serving in Christian youth groups, Upward Bound football clinics, an local charities. This young man was so quiet, you would never have thought of him as the typical football players that make media news today. My daughter has known him since the 7th grade and thought of him as one of the nicest young men she knew in high school. He was never neglected. In fact, my wife was so concerned when he was a freshman because he wasn't eating lunch in school; that she arranged to have my daughter sneak a snack to him, only to find out from his grandmother that he had over a 100 dollars in his school backpack, he simply just was a quiet kid that didn't like attracting attention. I think what is saddest for us, we know his grandparents and they are good hardworking people like us all. We've spent the evening talking to our children and the importance of communicating.
I am use to tragedies, combat may seem to make you insensitive at times to life, but I think most of us who have served in combat, will agree it doesn't ease the pain. Why am I saying this, well it struck me when I was reading some posts and how much of us all recall the lack of social media devices; really never impacted our lives. Things seemed so simple then, even though we lived in the Cold War and survived one very close nuclear scare. However, I think as many of you will agree that younger people today, feel more comfortable discussing issues through their media devices through texting. Its a form of communication, but so much is lost and I've been dealing with this for several years with my daughter. Granted, we have an open line, their are times, when she has thrown us for a loop. Just from my standpoint more arguments are started using social media devices rather than face to face communications.
So I ask all my friends and those that just come on here to read a forum. Talk to your loved ones today or even a friend. Ask them how things are going? Certainly, discuss the issue about open lines of communication and the need to seek out a friend when things look so dim that you opt to do something that will leave those all that love you, tragically asking the question today..."what could I have done better to prevent this?" If your a young adult, things may look very dim at times for you, but struggle forth, things will always look bad at first, but you can overcome them. If you feel that bad enough to take drastic measure, seek someone close to you and talk about it. You'll find out that your friends will always have your back. If anything if you don't feel comfortable talking to someone, just go give a hug...everyone needs one of those some days.
I will miss this young man, he was a bright star as a youth and he had such a promising future ahead of himself.
I am use to tragedies, combat may seem to make you insensitive at times to life, but I think most of us who have served in combat, will agree it doesn't ease the pain. Why am I saying this, well it struck me when I was reading some posts and how much of us all recall the lack of social media devices; really never impacted our lives. Things seemed so simple then, even though we lived in the Cold War and survived one very close nuclear scare. However, I think as many of you will agree that younger people today, feel more comfortable discussing issues through their media devices through texting. Its a form of communication, but so much is lost and I've been dealing with this for several years with my daughter. Granted, we have an open line, their are times, when she has thrown us for a loop. Just from my standpoint more arguments are started using social media devices rather than face to face communications.
So I ask all my friends and those that just come on here to read a forum. Talk to your loved ones today or even a friend. Ask them how things are going? Certainly, discuss the issue about open lines of communication and the need to seek out a friend when things look so dim that you opt to do something that will leave those all that love you, tragically asking the question today..."what could I have done better to prevent this?" If your a young adult, things may look very dim at times for you, but struggle forth, things will always look bad at first, but you can overcome them. If you feel that bad enough to take drastic measure, seek someone close to you and talk about it. You'll find out that your friends will always have your back. If anything if you don't feel comfortable talking to someone, just go give a hug...everyone needs one of those some days.
I will miss this young man, he was a bright star as a youth and he had such a promising future ahead of himself.
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