Chris Larrabee: A Day to Remember

“I myself have said, you are gods, and all of you are sons of the most high.”  -Psalms 82:5 

Chris Larrabee was my best friend in 6^th, 7^th, 8^th and part of 9^th grade, and he died in the World Trade Towers nine years ago today.  If you’d like to know about Chris as I knew him, read what I wrote last year here.  When I got married I wanted my wife to meet him.  Because I wanted her to know the guy I spent so much time talking about.  I wanted to see him again, too.  It never happened because I was a dumb dumb who thought we’d have a chance later.  It’s somewhat depressing to know how easy it is to let time get away – to fritter away opportunities, and that we do it out of selfishness.  But we aren’t bad people, we’re asleep.  It’s sad just the same.  

We all go through phases in our lives, and in 9^th grade Chris and I went through phases that separated us.  Nevertheless, Chris occupied a pivotal time in my life, and he is a defining part of who I am today.  I’ve made a promise to myself then that I’ll dedicate my 9/11′s to him and that I’ll do something every year to make sure he doesn’t fade into oblivion.  Forgotten is what we all become given enough time.  But despite that inevitability I feel it isn’t futile to pass pieces of him around to anybody willing to listen while I still have the chance.  I’ll keep spreading the word about the sort of person the world lost because I think Chris can continue to have a positive impact even though he isn’t here.  This is my little encomium to Chris.  

He was special to a lot of people.  I’m one of many who benefited by Chris’s existence.  I don’t feel angry anymore about what happened to him.  I used to be angry, but I can’t be anymore because, for me, it isn’t helpful.  Purposeful action is what’s important, not rage at injustice.  

“How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.”  - Marcus Aurelius 

I want my action to be a positive action, however minor, maybe for people who want to remember but who have lost a point of reference or have been fomented to ambivalence by trivialities.  They can spend time with us to think of Chris and share our appreciation for him.  This most basic and anodyne act is something we can all do to positive effect today.  I want his family to have peace – the people, who if Chris were back with us today, he would go to first.  If this post helps them just a little bit, to let them know that lots of us are better people today thanks to Chris having been born, then I’m happy.  Chris is real.  If you need someone to remember, remember him and know he was a gentle human being who was bigger than his destroyed flesh and bones.