On a cold winter day, I unexpectedly made a new friend over the
Internet, on a popular chat site. While lounging about on a social room, I
began to randomly talk to someone who wasn’t getting noticed. We chatted over
our schools, what we loved, and was music we like. Soon it became a daily encounter
and we got to know more and more about each other.
Not long after meeting
John, the said boy, received grave news from his father. His father was
diagnosed with stomach and colon cancer. I made it clear to him I would always
be there for him. Though the limitations of the distance between us didn’t
allow a true connection, my words comforted him. He would have bursts of anger
and frustration in school that he would tell me about. I would patiently give
him alternatives to his emotions he was feeling at this time. I had determined
to help him with skills he could use in the future. As we both grew over the
years, I noticed how he became more mature and took my advice to heart.
John’s father’s cancer was
progressively eating away at his health, but he stayed strong for his family. I
had never again had the opportunity of getting this close to as strong of a man
as John Tanta Sr. Not only his courage with cancer reflected his mental
strength, but how he prepared his family for his foreseen end was as brave as
any man could get.
To conclude this essay, I
will close with the ending passage from a tribute biography for John’s father.
“…I didn’t expect something
like my dear friends father dyeing. It surprised me how fast that kind of news
can hit you. It got me thinking about what I was saying to him. And how much I
didn’t think while saying things. To me I sounded like some person that is
standing there and nods and looks sad while people are crying because what I’ve
said sounded so planned out. These things we say and how we say them, it all
goes back to what we picked up. We have an assumption that the things other
people say in a time of grieving is all we can say. But the thing is, we have
nothing else to say but what we learned. Because, though death is in the world every
day, we don’t have to personally deal with it until it is in our way. I wanted
what I say to have at least an ounce of originality buts it’s not in me. This
is when online chatting become the coldest. I was with him always as words and
that was the most I could give him. I know now I am not more than just words to
him. And I have always been a real person apart of John’s life and his family.
Just as John was a part of my daily conversation for these years we spent
together, my family made him apart of us. We have affected each other’s lives
and it seems the day we will stop talking will never come. And I hope it won’t
ever come. Through time, things and people change, memories held dear won’t
fade. John Tanta Sr. is no longer here with us but the happy memories with him
will stay with his family, his fans, his friends, and some girl in Arkansas
that is close to his son. I’ll end this tribute and bibliography saying John Tanta
was a great man that changed lives and his son will grow to be just as great
and just as kind….”
-A
Tribute to John Tenta Sr. by Marcie Carelock
No comments:
Post a Comment