Nobody reads these things.
In this case I prefer it. I don't like the spectacle.
I don't like the platitudes and the quotations and the half-baked sentiments.
Maybe that makes me a cynic. I've just never found it comforting, grieving like that.
But the words should come out, I suppose.
I didn't know you that well.
In that regard my notion of you as a human being could be entirely false. It's unlikely anyone will speak ill of the departed, though. I don't think I'm wrong.
I didn't know you that well, but from what I saw you had a genuine sort of happiness about you most times. It wasn't overbearing or contrived or illusory, it was just there.
Thing is, you made a point of trying to share it with other people.
At the time I didn't really appreciate that as significant, but I've learned otherwise over the years.
It's rare, and the world suffers for the loss of it.
The news story didn't say that. It said you weren't using a personal floatation device.
I suppose that's meant to be a lesson? It doesn't feel like one. You could swim and weren't careless.
In the convalescence of random chance, people will want something to blame.
Will it be that, I wonder? As if the use of an inflated vest might have staved off the approach of Death.
The lesson should be that life is precious and entirely too brief.
The lesson should be that our actions and attitudes leave a mark on the world, sometimes even in imperceptible and tangential ways, and should never be taken for granted.
I didn't ask how you were doing the last time I saw you.
I smiled and nodded politely, not entirely certain I recognized you.
I would've liked to know, I think.
Rest in peace, Michael Glover.
- C
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