Sadness

I found out today that one of my former students committed suicide last week. He was a sweet, polite boy and that's saying a lot for a fourteen year old high school freshman. The person who told me about it didn't know much more than the details of how he was found (and I'll spare you from hearing the specifics), but there wasn't a note so the reasons behind it are a mystery.

I've now had three former students die (two who died in car accidents while still in school and the boy mentioned above who was 21 years old) and I have to say that it's been harder to deal with their deaths than I ever thought it would be. It's not like my college professors prepared me for losing students. And when elderly or sick relatives have passed away, I've been sad and grieved, but I felt like at least there was a reason they died.

Anyway, I don't know what else to say, other than I'm sad. I'm sad for what this young man could have become. I'm sad for what he could have offered the world. I'm sad for his parents and his little sister. And I'm sad for him.