Another Kind Soul...Gone Too Soon

 If you're familiar at all with Facebook, you know you can be part of groups. There's a group--one of millions--that's dedicated to the 1984 graduating class of Davis High School.

We're one member smaller now.

But, the loss feels so much bigger.

Sam was not from Davis County originally, but a transplant from another culture, another time. Back in the 1970s children from the Native American reservations were sent to live with host homes along the Wasatch Front. Our own family was chosen to host a student, but he did not get on the bus so we never had the opportunity. In hindsight, I don't know if the program did more good or damage. You'd have to ask those directly involved. But, since it happened and the past cannot be changed, it really has no bearing. Except for the fact that had the program not existed, I would never have met Sam or Travis.

And I'd be the poorer for it.

Like other members of the Facebook Davis High School Class of 1984 group who have left us, Sam made a premature departure. The world could definitely use him more than ever. I knew Sam as a shy, quiet kid in jr. high and high school. In reading his Facebook home page, those who knew him after high school had nothing but wonderful and glowing things to say about him. They spoke of their admiration for him, of his dedication to others, of his kindness, generosity, and authenticity...three pure and important traits. Others credited his example for changing their own lives. Many followed in his footsteps. In short, his life meant so much to so many.

His was a life that made a difference--a difference for good. A better epitaph cannot be written.

I wish I could have hung out with him before he passed. It's too bad I have to keep writing that same sentence whenever someone I know passes away. Such is the craziness of life, I suppose. We barely have time for our immediate family, let alone all the friends of our past. Still, the wish remains the same.

Sam lived in two worlds, two cultures, two lifetimes. He had friends and family in each. Now, both worlds mourn and wish things were different. I'm glad he reached out to me on Facebook years ago. I'm glad he and I shared the experience of growing up in small-ish town Utah. I'm glad he made the lives of those around him better. I'm sad he's passed and I wish he were still with us.

The world is better because of Sam.

The world is less because he's gone.