I apologize for being so vague in the last posting. I, and all my family, are fine and healthy.
In explanation, besides the normal overwhelming-ness of life that school causes, I found out of an Oboe World tragedy.
Mark Weiger, professor at U. of Iowa, committed suicide. The circumstances under which this happened are not pleasant.
My personal acquaintance with him was limited to a Master Class. But, many of my friends knew him well; some studied with him at Iowa.
Many lives have been effected*; those who I have talked to are handling things as well as can be expected. As time passes, it will be harder, but they know they are not alone.
We are never alone.
* I have a real problem with deciding between affect and effect.
4 comments:
I hate suicides; there's such a frustration with them, a futility because they don't have to happen. I think they are the saddest deaths. I am sorry to hear about him - I'm glad that you're doing well.
Hey friend, thanks for the post--I knew Mark very well--he has been a family friend since I was 9 years old. He is a HUGE reason why I made it to where I am now. His loss has been devastating to me. He was such an amazing person. But I'm pretty sure that I'll see him again someday and that's the only comfort I have right now!
I think it's affected :)
I just need to vent here about how incredibly HORRIBLE people can be. I was following some of the news stories about Mark's death over the past week, seeing what they'd say, and if anything new would turn up. And then I read some of the comments after an article about him. People are SO RUDE! I really wanted to cry when I read the hateful, disgusting comments people made about Mark. I don't know if those people knew him personally or not, but they said really, really terrible things about him. How dare they? How dare they be so vulgar and hateful about someone who is not even here now to defend himself? I wonder if those people would talk like that if we could see who they were, and they weren't anonymous internet identities.
Phew. Thanks for letting me vent. Mark was an inspiration to any oboe player, and a wonderful person.
mk: You are always free to vent here! I, too, read some of the comments posted after the articles, and had to stop.I doubt that they knew Mark personally.
The little I know, sure, he probably made a mistake. Maybe more than one. As I'm typing, I'm reminded of the woman caught in adultery - we never truly know all the circumstances. There is only One who does. And that's why He is the Final Judge.
[Yes, there is a need for us to make small judgments, etc, etc, but that's for a different discussion. :)]
And, by not bashing on the person does that mean that what is happened is okay, either. It truly is possible to show respect to someone even while disagreeing with their ideologies.
I was once told the story of the stereotypical biker dude. The type that raised hell wherever they pass through. You know, like the one on Raising Arizona.
Anyhoo, that is there main path in life, the desire to raise hell, to make people's life unhappy. But, one day, they see a bunny hopping across the road, and on a whim decide to not run it over.
Does this mean that their life is automatically on a different path? I say no.
I also believe that the converse is true.
Someone's life, their character, cannot be judged by one action.
michele: I knew you and your family knew him well, but I never realized it had been that long a time. You will see him again.
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