in memoriam
yeah so a very sweet person has been taken from our lives. my friend sharooq was killed instantly last night in the bay area when he was hit by a drunk driver. it seems these days that so many young people are passing away from various injustices that don't involve "natural circumstances" or anything of the sort. maybe god does take those he loves most early on. maybe sharooq was simply too good for this earth. all i know is that one beautiful, charming, soothing smile was taken, and all we have is our memory of it. in the words of emily dickinson, "i woke and chid my honest fingers; the gem was gone/ and now an amethyst remembrance is all i own."
sharooq was the type of person who always tried to make others feel happy. in fact, his brothers are the same way. the three of them would enter a room, and everyone would just smile and greet them with enthusiasm. sharooq especially never failed to tell me how nice i looked when i dressed up, or how much he enjoyed the brownies i made for my party, or how he's happy that his cousins (my best friends) had chosen someone fun as their best friend. he had wanted to skateboard in my empty swimming pool... i was supposed to set up an appointment with him after i came home from new york.
i guess all we have in this difficult world is those who keep us young, who keep us smiling, who keep us from getting jaded. sometimes all it takes is one person to get you to live for something, one soul to make you *want* to exist in a tragedy-brimmed universe. in one month, i've lost two friends, both of whom were under the age of 24... and the irony of it all is that both of them were the kind of people who could make this life worth living.
today i was reminded of how far removed i am from my world at home, just because of the physical distance. and i was also reminded of something sharooq used to tell me. i sorta turned to someone close to me for comfort, and that basically didn't work for whatever reason, be it circumstance or coincidence or just because. but sharooq had said, "no matter what it is, you can't trust anybody to get you through it, not even yourself. look up, or look ahead, but do it on your own, and by on your own, i mean with god. and maybe *that* will mean something to you." touche, man.
rest in peace.
sharooq was the type of person who always tried to make others feel happy. in fact, his brothers are the same way. the three of them would enter a room, and everyone would just smile and greet them with enthusiasm. sharooq especially never failed to tell me how nice i looked when i dressed up, or how much he enjoyed the brownies i made for my party, or how he's happy that his cousins (my best friends) had chosen someone fun as their best friend. he had wanted to skateboard in my empty swimming pool... i was supposed to set up an appointment with him after i came home from new york.
i guess all we have in this difficult world is those who keep us young, who keep us smiling, who keep us from getting jaded. sometimes all it takes is one person to get you to live for something, one soul to make you *want* to exist in a tragedy-brimmed universe. in one month, i've lost two friends, both of whom were under the age of 24... and the irony of it all is that both of them were the kind of people who could make this life worth living.
today i was reminded of how far removed i am from my world at home, just because of the physical distance. and i was also reminded of something sharooq used to tell me. i sorta turned to someone close to me for comfort, and that basically didn't work for whatever reason, be it circumstance or coincidence or just because. but sharooq had said, "no matter what it is, you can't trust anybody to get you through it, not even yourself. look up, or look ahead, but do it on your own, and by on your own, i mean with god. and maybe *that* will mean something to you." touche, man.
rest in peace.