Never Forget

 This was written back in August but I never got round to publishing.

I was just doing a worksheet from a German grammar summer homework booklet that I have to complete before school starts again. Only my school would do something like that...

Anyway, I was in the middle of working and my mum broke the news that the man who painted the whole interior of our house back in June, has been found dead in his flat. Now I didn't know him very well and I'm sure some of you would be thinking why on earth I'm writing about it.

He was only at our house for about 7 days but I got to know him well. He was a really good guy. Not a bad bone in his body. You would like him if you had got the chance to meet him.

It got to me more than I could ever imagine. The story of his death is tragic so I guess it's understandable. I said he had been found dead in his bed. But when paramedics came, they said he had already been dead for over a month. 

That word rocked me. It doesn't make sense how it took well over 30 days for friends (he wasn't married) to go and find him. There are people who die who are laid to rest in under a week.

For a good man's life to be cut short and the fact that no one knew he died for so long is distressing. No matter how well you know them.

A death of someone you know always brings up these emotions.

I never knew Jamal Ottun but the news of a young, happy, popular 17 year old guy, only about a year older than me, dying shook me up. Seeing all those tributes to him from his friends and even people who didn't know him and reading about the circumstances of his passing made me speechless. He must have been blown away by the response up there.

Drake's tribute to Jamal, thanks to an online campaign from friends, family and more than a few strangers...
 

The main fact of life is that it's short. And certain situations out of our control can make it even shorter. That's why it's important to appreciate who you have in your life and what you've got: your family, your friends, your education, your experiences etc.

There's always been a lot of talk about whether there's an afterlife or not. I believe that there is but I still believe that people live in through our memories of them, their legacy so to speak.

I hate to put a downer on things but we've really got to appreciate every day we have. Even just telling your family you love them once in a while because, God forbid, they might be gone one day when you're least expecting it.

Oh and leave a legacy. You don't need to create revolutionary software or write a bestselling book. Just do good things, just small acts of kindness that make other people's lives (and yours) better. Because they can go a really long way. Jamal and Gerry (the painter) touched other people's lives with their personalities and that's all it took for them to be remembered and missed so fondly.

RIP Gerry.

RIP Jamal.