My Brother
My brother taught me a lot about life and how we should live it. You never really listen to what someone is saying until they're gone. I always heard his sage advice and profound wisdom for such a young age, but I hardly ever applied it. It was all stuff I had heard before, and a lot of it was common sense. But it's surprising how much it is to apply that type of common sense to your life. After he died, I needed his words more than ever to help me get through it. When I knew I needed him, I dug through my past, through our old conversations. What would he say to me? Now I always do that. Whenever I'm in a sticky situation, or just struggling, I replay old conversations of similar situations and apply that advice to my life, finally.
I learned a lot more about him after he died, sadly. But I guess that's a thing. You can really see the impact a person has on the world after they die by the stories people tell about that person. The stories his friends, my parents, my cousins, his superiors, his mentors, etc. told of him revolved around one concept. My brother was a one of a kind human being. The type of person you meet in your life that changes it completely, always for the better. The most passionate, selfless, caring, determined person you'd ever meet. There are few like him. It's hard to describe with trait words because to know this type of person, you'd have to meet them. It's like some great heroic protagonist from a book. He was surreal.
I never know how deeply he'd touched the hearts of countless numbers of people. At his funeral there were over 100 people, probably more, People had to stand outside and on the sides of the funeral hall because it wasn't big enough. That's when you know the world has suffered a monumental loss. When you've been at a company for a year and a half, and they donate $25,000 to your alma mater for a 5 year scholarship fund in your name, you know that the life you lived was very fulfilled. That is a rare sight to see.
I have heard and read so many stories about how my brother helped these people in their time of need. How he was there for him when they needed someone to pick them up out of a hole. How he helped change their lives for the better or when they were struggling. How he was always free to spend time and talk and just enjoy time with those around him. It also makes me slightly jealous. This is the moment when I am so confused and I need my brother to pick me out of that hole. I need him to help me change my life for the better. He left when I needed him the most.
I have always been proud to say that he was my brother. He's always been the one person I always look up to. He taught me that to be great does not mean to be perfect. To be great, you have to be, well I haven't completely figured it out, but he taught me it's okay to have flaws and still be loved by many. His flaw was probably his semi short temper, but his strength was his light heartedness, his ability to defuse very quickly as well.
My brother was a unique, one of a kind, gem of a person. He was my mentor. He was my parental figure. He was my guide.
He still is all those things. He'll never be a was. There's too many people that he has affected to ever be forgotten. He will truly be memorialized through every person's life he touched.
I learned a lot more about him after he died, sadly. But I guess that's a thing. You can really see the impact a person has on the world after they die by the stories people tell about that person. The stories his friends, my parents, my cousins, his superiors, his mentors, etc. told of him revolved around one concept. My brother was a one of a kind human being. The type of person you meet in your life that changes it completely, always for the better. The most passionate, selfless, caring, determined person you'd ever meet. There are few like him. It's hard to describe with trait words because to know this type of person, you'd have to meet them. It's like some great heroic protagonist from a book. He was surreal.
I never know how deeply he'd touched the hearts of countless numbers of people. At his funeral there were over 100 people, probably more, People had to stand outside and on the sides of the funeral hall because it wasn't big enough. That's when you know the world has suffered a monumental loss. When you've been at a company for a year and a half, and they donate $25,000 to your alma mater for a 5 year scholarship fund in your name, you know that the life you lived was very fulfilled. That is a rare sight to see.
I have heard and read so many stories about how my brother helped these people in their time of need. How he was there for him when they needed someone to pick them up out of a hole. How he helped change their lives for the better or when they were struggling. How he was always free to spend time and talk and just enjoy time with those around him. It also makes me slightly jealous. This is the moment when I am so confused and I need my brother to pick me out of that hole. I need him to help me change my life for the better. He left when I needed him the most.
I have always been proud to say that he was my brother. He's always been the one person I always look up to. He taught me that to be great does not mean to be perfect. To be great, you have to be, well I haven't completely figured it out, but he taught me it's okay to have flaws and still be loved by many. His flaw was probably his semi short temper, but his strength was his light heartedness, his ability to defuse very quickly as well.
My brother was a unique, one of a kind, gem of a person. He was my mentor. He was my parental figure. He was my guide.
He still is all those things. He'll never be a was. There's too many people that he has affected to ever be forgotten. He will truly be memorialized through every person's life he touched.
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