only the good

I want to know why Eric had to die when there are ample amounts of perfectly awful people that the universe could have taken care of with what we like to call a "courtesy flush," in the profession.

I could tell you stories about what a great person he was and recount the fact that I am not a wonderful person and he was still a friend to me.  I am so hard to like.  I am so hard to be around.  I’ve gone through roommates, debate partners and whatever else a person can alienate at an alarming rate.  I’m probably one of two people to have a common law girlfriend.  It’s that bad. 

We had a couple classes together and despite my best efforts to be off-putting he still included me.  Most notably we had America History together and in my years of teaching I couldn’t get through a major unit without referencing something ridiculous he said or did.  There are children in five states who think that he was a serious scholar of our history and that things I repeated were worth holding as facts.  

I remember that the Continental Congress was called by Benjamin Franklin, Ben shouted out of his window until people showed up.  John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln because he was wearing white socks with a dark suit and dress shoes.  Theodore Roosevelt left his mustache in his will to our teacher.

I won’t bore you with how smart I am but I’m a legend in my own mind, but one day I said something incredibly stupid in class.  In a rare moment of not having done my homework and not knowing the answer I was called upon.  I think the teacher was relying on my unnatural ability to enjoy his class or alternately knew it was the one time the whole year that I was in the dark.  I bravely tried to sound like I knew the answer and Eric looked at me and said, “you don’t have to pretend to be stupid to make the rest of us feel good.” 

 He was also a smart ass after my own heart.  When we were learning about colonization we had to make up a proposal for “the king” about what kind of colony we would have, going through a list of questions and a shopping list of supplies.  When we were being questioned about our choices in front of the class – the teacher using a poor choice to teach the class about how our world differs from colonial times – Eric told him that, if we cared what he thought, we wouldn’t be endeavoring to pack our stuff and leave. 

I don’t know if I’ll still laugh or cry when I get back to teaching and think about those things.  What I do know is that I will always remember the person that was kind to the new kid, the unpopular kid, and even the kid who was unkind to him.  There were always people who were so incredibly mean to him – and I have no idea why because anyone who tolerates me is a candidate for sainthood.  I cannot fathom what someone who was unkind to him was thinking. 

We should always learn things from our friends.  If I had to take a lesson from him and share it with you it would be: be a smartass and be kind to everyone you meet.  Don’t empower people who hurt you by letting them know it upset you.  I think that’s what always impressed me about him because he never let the negative people in life know if they had hit their mark.  He might have been bothered by it but they never knew it. 

I forget who said it, but it really does feel like the whole world depopulated when one person dies.  

Comments

[Inside the Philosophy Factory]

I'm sorry to hear about Eric... the loss of a person his age is really hard, because they are just getting started on life.

People will spout bland platitudes at you -- and they mean well, but it's things like this that have taught me that sometimes life sucks and it isn't fair. They've also taught me that sometimes bad stuff happens for no reason and that trying to figure out some reason only makes you feel like crap.