By Sara Berry
This past Saturday was supposed to be my ten-year high school reunion. The reunion had been cancelled, but we had a pseudo-reunion anyway – at the funeral of a classmate.
I was not super close to him, but he had always been nice to me in school, when a lot of people were not so nice to me. We were on the same bus, had the same homeroom for four years, and were five lockers down from each other. In the ten years since graduation, I saw him frequently at the store I work at and he always stopped to talk to me and asked how I was doing and what I was up to.He lived a few streets down from me, and we would see each other outside taking walks or coming and going.
I had just seen him earlier in the week. He was not someone I would have expected to hang himself.
But I suppose we never expect these things. We rarely take the time to really know or understand what is going on with those around us. We frequently see things at face value and avoid digging deeper unless it directly concerns us. We take other people for granted.
Funerals are never happy occasions, but it was almost surreal to go to the funeral of a classmate and see someone I had known for at least half my life, someone my age, laying in a casket. Perhaps the worst thing about funerals is the open casket – it is eerie to see the deceased still and motionless, yet ironically at peace. Sometimes we are happy for the person in a way- we are glad that they no longer suffer from some painful disease.
One of the things that strikes me about this particular instance is that it could have been avoided. We all have bad days and tough times, periods where everything seems to be go wrong. Sometimes it is hard to realize that everyone has friends and family and people that love them. Sometimes we forget that there are people we can turn to, that we don’t have to suffer in silence.
For those that don’t feel like they can talk to their family and friends, there are professionals trained to help those in despair – universities like CCSU have counseling centers on campus. Counselors are trained to help people through their tough times so that they don’t feel that they have nowhere to turn. Life is busy and full of difficulty, but don’t let the difficulties get in the way of life itself. If you need help, seek it out. Don’t let your loved ones suffer from losing you and wondering what they did wrong.
Rest in peace Bret; you are in a better place now.