Someone I knew passed on this week

I didn't know him very well and I didn't meet him much, he was just the guy at the bar that foreigners frequent and the guy that I talked to when I had the chance. But he seemed like a great guy who was loved by almost everybody with whom he came in contact. My biggest regret is that I wish I knew him better.

As someone raised in a Christian elementary and junior high school (they put fear into you for nine long years), and as someone who could see the pillar of smoke from the Twin Towers from his house in Staten Island, I've pretty much reconciled with the fact that that the rising of the sun is not a given for anyone. When it's time, it's time. It's just the way it is.

But even when it comes to someone who wasn't family, or a close friend, or even a regular acquaintance, when it's just someone that I knew in town, it still hurts. Partly because he was such a cool guy, but also because - and it's selfish to say, I know - it could happen to anyone of us.

I'm sorry to see you go, sir.