Compassion at its Finest

I was cleaning out my email folders and found an email that was sent to me a while back.  Someone who knew James posted a comment remembering him on the two year anniversary of his crossing so I contacted him.  I asked him to tell me what he remembers about James.

The following is his reply:



"It would be an absolute pleasure to share with you how James has impacted me as a person.

I remember coming into high school not knowing what to expect, it was like a kid walking into a room full of grown people all looking down at you. Luckily I got a head start by meeting about 100 people before school even started, that was because of marching band.

James was always a motivation for me. The kid always had a smile on his face. No matter how bad my day could've went, James was right there making a joke or two that would make it all just seem as i disappeared. He was exceptionally talented, before him I never even knew what a bassoon was, he sat down with me and a friend of mine and taught us all about the instrument, and even let us try it out. As a freshmen, which is usually a prank target, he literally sat and spent time with us and that was golden to me. I always appreciated him for that.

We also had the same lunch period in which we spent in the band room where we played some card games, played duets and trios, and just talked. There was never a dull moment.

Losing James was the first real time I was old enough to understand the loss of someone and it hit me pretty hard. It would just bring back memories of some very great times in such a short friendship I had with him, but I know that he is watching over all of us he loved. I continued my musical path with him right by my side and it is still pretty successful for me."

Keep the contagion spreading.....