I hate it when good people die and the evil still live

Went to my friend's son's memorial service today. It was the fifth one for him and the large church was packed with friends and family. He was involved in several organizations and some of them had their own service for him. He was diagnosed with adult-onset Still's Disease back in 2005, a rare form of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. He was 23.

He was an Eagle Scout, had been part of City Team of Philadelphia (our AmeriCorp program), was a member of several music groups and a junior soccer coach at Clark Park. Although he had been diagnosed with this very painful and dibilitating disease, he still did what he could to stay independent and continue to be involved in his community and mentor to younger people. He did more for others in his 23 years than many of us will do in twice as many years.

I really didn't know him, just knew about him and his brother and sister through his mother. I met her at my needlepoint shop and I just feel for her. It angers me that someone like him has been taken away from us while other people his age are out there doing absolutely nothing but smoking pot and playing video games, or even worse, doing violence to each other. They are still here, yet he is gone.

I know life isn't fair, and they always say there are reasons for why things happen. It's just hard to understand why someone like this is gone. I'm thankful for the time he was here and saw today how many lives he touched, and I hope that will help his family get through the tough times ahead.