Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site loral.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcc6!loral!simard From: simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Final word re Connie - and thanks Message-ID: <650@loral.UUCP> Date: Thu, 15-Nov-84 00:50:26 EST Article-I.D.: loral.650 Posted: Thu Nov 15 00:50:26 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 16-Nov-84 06:39:30 EST Organization: Loral Instrumentation, San Diego, CA Lines: 80 [] This isn't exactly a flame, but foregoing events seem to make this the most appropriate group for this. This is my last comment regarding Connie Sharp. So many of you have written to offer support that I and others with me are heartily grateful. I have tried to thank many of you by return mail, but the mail system has kicked back most of them and I am a bit tired of fighting it (I plan to look into this when I get a chance). So please accept out collective thanks for being warm and caring. Although I get a bit feisty on this and other groups about some matters, please know that I always try to separate the issue from the person, and just enjoy the debate (I really do mean my signature). My parting comment is this, which I wrote and submitted to the local paper. I hope each of you can derive some benefit from it. If you don't like the way it begins, just use 'n' and move on - I intend to categorically ignore all flames regarding this posting. ----- If you were to ask any ten people at random the name of the victim in the most recent murder case they had seen in the news, you might get one, maybe two, direct answers. It is not indifference that makes such events fade so swiftly from the forefront of the public consciousness, but rather the distressing frequency with which they occur. Like most citizens, I have seen names and photographs pass before me of those whose lives ended at the hands of another. I have tried to visualize the person behind the name, the vibrant flow of life that made them the per- son they were, and to share in spirit the experience of those they left behind. Now the experience has changed. Someone whose spirit and essence requires no force of imagination for me to perceive has been taken, whisked from this world to the next by the unprovoked actions of another. There are many who knew Connie Sharp more closely than I, but no one who knew her at all was untouched by her presence. In those hours when friends gather to celebrate the joy of friendship and community, she was there, contributing to that joy in a powerful and unique way. Her ever-present smile, her exuberance, her zest for life were infectious, and I am only one of many who shared in the glow of her presence. Even at the memorial service, there were surprises. I knew that she worked in ophthalmology, but was unaware that she had helped found the Vision Search Foundation, which helps poor and elderly patients with vision problems. Connie never was one to wear her accomplishments on her sleeve. When such a radiant being is no more, the fact is never easy to accept. Even now, I feel moved to visit her, to comfort her in the aftermath of her ordeal. I find myself strangely concerned that I did not express my own friendship more effusively the last time I saw her. At times like these, no question is asked more often, and with less chance of a worthwhile answer, than "Why". In the constant search for order in our world, we look for evidence of justice and purpose in this tragedy, and find none. The random juxtaposition of two beings, the unfathomable motivations of one directed against the other, and we are left to wonder, while sharing the task of binding our wounds. Perhaps there is a small element of selfishness that yearns to cling to that which is good, uplifting and enriching. Connie's life and being were all those, and more. To see such a one depart is to sense a vacuum in the individual and collective consciousness of all those whose lives she touched. Let it be known that she lived, and died, loving and loved. -- [ I am not a stranger, but a friend you haven't met yet ] Ray Simard Loral Instrumentation, San Diego {ucbvax, ittvax!dcdwest}!sdcsvax!sdcc6!loral!simard ...Though we may sometimes disagree, You are still a friend to me!