First comes the news.
"I am sorry to write this in a group email. I have the saddest news--and can barely talk yet, so I hope you can forgive me...Bright died yesterday." Then the words--far more eloquent than anything that I could produce in that state.
“If ever a name perfectly suited someone it was 'Bright...'"And then--only then--reactions rush in. Questions and answers that don't really satisfy.
America. A teenager dies because he has access to so many pills, he can take enough to kill himself. And he does. On the way to his funeral two more kids make a promise--to stop, to reform. To learn. But the next day, another is hospitalized for the same error of excess...
Africa. A grown man with a mother and a son who depend on him dies because he can't afford the one pill he needs. And the next day, another family is broken by this same injustice.
Back in America--to themselves and to Africa, they promise: never again.
But on both sides of the Atlantic the cycle continues. Ever again.
It's a bit of cosmic irony...but being bitter serves no one. Injustice isn't worth bemoaning...but it is worth fighting. And Bright Gasper is worth honoring.
What happened--it doesn't just happen in Africa. But it does happen more there. In the hospital because of a long case of typhoid, Bright got a blood transfusion. It should have saved him but did the opposite, as he received the wrong type of blood.
The cause of Bright's passing may be more upsetting than the fact that he's gone. Bright lived each day acknowledging the gift that it was, thankful for just 24 more hours of vitality. And a vital man he was: always eager to teach, eager to learn, eager to help others and make sure everyone was okay, enjoying themselves as much as possible. He laughed when we told him he was "so GQ" and laughed even harder when we told him what it meant. He was steady and collected both on our many road trips and in marketplace dealmaking.
There's something different about the mentality in Africa. There, rarely does one look too far into the future--instead, the goal is to live each day to the fullest. The loss of a man who was such a fine example of that lifestyle sends my mind in circles--half of me is tempted to be sad that someone with so much life left in him lost his life so early. But the other half of me is tempted to learn from Bright. We can't forget the people who are gone, but we can't spend too long mourning, either. Because in the end, the most important thing is to live each day for the gift it is.
"Never slow down, never look back, live each day with adolescent verve and spunk and curiosity and playfulness."RIP Bright Gasper.
