Comments on: The News From Poughkeepsie – Day 82 http://www.murverse.com/2008/07/29/the-news-from-poughkeepsie-day-82/ All creative works from Mur Lafferty Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:28:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jeff Hitehttp://www.murverse.com/2008/07/29/the-news-from-poughkeepsie-day-82/#comment-709 Jeff Hite Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:04:47 +0000 http://murverse.com/?p=375#comment-709 Ask and you shall receive. Watch http://GreatHites.blogspot.com I will try to have this one up there in the next few days. I am not going to try for one a day any more. I got really burned out in just over a week, and my family was suffering. Maybe I can pick one a week. I will have to make it PG. No, "Prostitutes are brought in for carnal urges" in my version. Ask and you shall receive. Watch http://GreatHites.blogspot.com I will try to have this one up there in the next few days. I am not going to try for one a day any more. I got really burned out in just over a week, and my family was suffering. Maybe I can pick one a week. I will have to make it PG. No, “Prostitutes are brought in for carnal urges” in my version.

]]> By: Timothyhttp://www.murverse.com/2008/07/29/the-news-from-poughkeepsie-day-82/#comment-708 Timothy Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:50:34 +0000 http://murverse.com/?p=375#comment-708 This actually reminds me of a personal piece I wrote several years ago. It's not a piece I've shared with others but it involves my family. Growing up, my brother and I were a year apart and shared the same room, so we were at times best friends and sometimes not depending on the situation, but we always had each other's ultimate best interest in mind. We knew we could always count on each other when the chips were down. We shared a lot of common interests and would push each other towards excellence in whatever we did, sports like wrestling, I read fantasy and he read sci-fi and we'd swap books. It was a unique experience to have grown up with him.When he was 21, he traveled by train to New York for a summer job just to experience life outside of California. I stayed behind to complete some summer courses in mathematics. After a few weeks in the city with a steady paycheck from the summer job, a good place to live and a few dates with a nice girl, he was walking with his date coming back from an Ethiopian restaurant that he'd wanted to try just because he'd never had Ethiopian food. Three 15 year old kids held them up at gunpoint and as he was handing over his wallet they shot him in the head. He did not survive.That was 14 years ago. I can't even write it without getting choked up. It truly feels like a part of me is gone forever.Today I'm married with 2 children who are incredibly precious to me. Each day with my family is a treasure and I try to find joy in life wherever I can for the both of us. But I still live with the pain of loss every dayI wonder if I would have the same drive to appreciate how amazing and beautiful life is if my brother had not been murdered by those three teenagers looking for a quick buck. Would I have met my wife? Had my children? If I could go back and save him, knowing I would lose my family - could I do it? What if I could go further back and stop the teenagers, or even further back and keep them from ever being born? What would my life be like today? How many lives would be touched?There have been a couple of movies on this theme - Butterfly Effect and Closing Doors are two that come to mind. Ultimately we can't go back and change the past, but we can live for the future. And having known great sorrow - I find each grain of joy and treasure it because you never know what the future will hold. This actually reminds me of a personal piece I wrote several years ago. It’s not a piece I’ve shared with others but it involves my family. Growing up, my brother and I were a year apart and shared the same room, so we were at times best friends and sometimes not depending on the situation, but we always had each other’s ultimate best interest in mind. We knew we could always count on each other when the chips were down. We shared a lot of common interests and would push each other towards excellence in whatever we did, sports like wrestling, I read fantasy and he read sci-fi and we’d swap books. It was a unique experience to have grown up with him.

When he was 21, he traveled by train to New York for a summer job just to experience life outside of California. I stayed behind to complete some summer courses in mathematics. After a few weeks in the city with a steady paycheck from the summer job, a good place to live and a few dates with a nice girl, he was walking with his date coming back from an Ethiopian restaurant that he’d wanted to try just because he’d never had Ethiopian food. Three 15 year old kids held them up at gunpoint and as he was handing over his wallet they shot him in the head. He did not survive.

That was 14 years ago. I can’t even write it without getting choked up. It truly feels like a part of me is gone forever.

Today I’m married with 2 children who are incredibly precious to me. Each day with my family is a treasure and I try to find joy in life wherever I can for the both of us. But I still live with the pain of loss every day

I wonder if I would have the same drive to appreciate how amazing and beautiful life is if my brother had not been murdered by those three teenagers looking for a quick buck. Would I have met my wife? Had my children? If I could go back and save him, knowing I would lose my family – could I do it? What if I could go further back and stop the teenagers, or even further back and keep them from ever being born? What would my life be like today? How many lives would be touched?

There have been a couple of movies on this theme – Butterfly Effect and Closing Doors are two that come to mind. Ultimately we can’t go back and change the past, but we can live for the future. And having known great sorrow – I find each grain of joy and treasure it because you never know what the future will hold.

]]> By: J.R. Blackwellhttp://www.murverse.com/2008/07/29/the-news-from-poughkeepsie-day-82/#comment-707 J.R. Blackwell Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:43:05 +0000 http://murverse.com/?p=375#comment-707 I am? Fantastic!This idea is wonderfully dark. I hope someone writes it into reality. I am? Fantastic!

This idea is wonderfully dark. I hope someone writes it into reality.

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