A Sensless Loss

So this weekend an old co-worker sent me a yahoo article that said that someone named Ryan Bricklemyer had been shot in the chest and had passed away. Now I was reading the article, so I knew it was not about me and just had an "That is awful" reaction. Today, I did one of those vanity google searches, which I do so often, and I started to see more of the coverage. Some of the local coverage and then it happened. I saw his picture. I knew who he was. It was the kid with the really bad hippos as his myspace background. I had been trying my best to make sure his page would come up after mine in search results for the past month. It was that kid.

He was an 18 year old high school student in Fort Cherry, a football player. A bigger kid with some amazing hair. He looked like a happy guy, every picture with a smile. I went back to his myspace and started to read. Posts from friends, family. Those in shock and remembering the good times. His friends talking about the way he was able to make them laugh. There are posts talking about his seat in class and his parking space, the space that will be left for him at graduation. He just seems like an amazing person.

Strangely I feel really attached to this guy who I never meet, never knew he existed six months ago. I feel for his friends and his family. It is a terrible loss. I am hopeful that I can have the personal impact on those I come in contact with as he did, as he has on me.

Rest In Peace : Ryan Bricklemyer, Fort Cherry PA, April 6 2007