The most beautiful people I have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These are people like those I had at work with me, who have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen. I was surrounded by my nurse co-workers when I got the call at work, I felt shock and disbelief that these two hockey boys were now orphans, in another state without anyone knowing who to call as their closest relatives. As Coach Solomon, who was at the hospital with them both so aptly put it, "I feel like I've lost my family members."I know that it is Veteran's day but I spent it
who lost their lives in an automobile accident on their way to a hockey tournament in Denver early this morning. Their son Karsen, was life flighted to the hospital while their son Kyle was taken by ambulance. The tractor-trailer hit them head on just outside of Laramie, Wyoming.
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| Karsen started power skating lessons with me when he was 5 years old |
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| and his brother Kyle when he was 8 |
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| Markus and Karsen have been on teams together for six years |
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| they have had sleepovers |
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| and playdates |
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| and they have been hockey brothers for a long as they have been playing hockey |
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| they both played up on the Squirt Lightning team when they were Mites |
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| They have traveled to, and won tournaments together |
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| Including the Park City tournament for the past three years |
When Markus came with Max to pick me up from work, I told them the unfathomable news. They both just sat in silence. Nothing is more important than empathy for another human being's suffering. Not a career. Not wealth, or intelligence. Certainly not status. We have feelings for one another to survive with dignity.
