That's really sad. I'm sorry about your loss of a friend.

ToTem

Schizo, as a homie I am always there for ya. Just keep your chin up.

-Omi

It's so shocking when one loses a close friend or family member, but it's best to think of all the good points such as all the fun stuff you did with him; keep negativity out of it. May he rest in piece.

Well, of course it sucks when someone dies. Everyone should know he's in a better place now, and remember the good times, not the bad.

Sorry to hear that Schizo. Blog your heart out buddy. We're all here for you.

I honestly know how you fell right now. Someone from my school died last week, he would have been a senior in high school like I'm going to be... It's so sad when anyone dies.

Kohaku

Life's just too short. Seven years. Seven years of life. Seven years of life is still life.

The cicada sleeps for 17 years underground, and lives as an adult for 7 weeks. Those weeks are spent in a frenzy, looking for a mate so it can lay eggs, and then die.

Seven years, the last of which were spent laughing and joking and camping.

In a way, he'll never grow up. Never grow old, feel the pangs and hardships of older life. And that is in a sense both a mercy and a tragedy. He'll never get a job, get married, have children and grandchildren.

But then he lived out his seven years of life that he was given, and even though he'll miss all the rest of life, his life was still full and rich and his entire life was spent young and happy and free. And if you're going to die then still having the brightness and fire of youth in your heart at the very end is not a bad way.

I'm not saying that dying young is better. But no matter the duration, he was here, he had a life, and for seven years time he enriched the lives of those around him.

My eloquence fails me. There's no way to say what I want to say properly here.

I'm very sorry for your loss.

Life's too short. Live it up. No regrets.

I just got back from the funeral.

Hard though it was to go, I'm glad I did. I think I can finally say goodbye now, even though he'll never be forgotten.

My fellow troop leaders were there as well, as were those children who knew him from school and Scouting.

It was a beautiful service, solemn. At the end, his father made a final speech. It's the bravest thing I've seen any man do.

He spoke of the joys and experiences of his son's young life. He said that, just like his son had been nervous about doing a speech on ostriches in class, he stood there now with knees shaking. The day before that class speech of his, he'd told us all about it at Scouting... I didn't know it was possible to smile at old memories and yet hurt so much inside at the same time.

I'm at least glad that we could all say our goodbyes together - I'd rather we hadn't had to do it at all, but there's nothing we can change about it. We'll go on without him, but still with him.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.