BRATTLEBORO — Growing up here as a teenager, I hung out with the skaters, punks, artist, and proud weirdos - people with real character and immense amounts of talent.
Most of my friends have grown up to venture out in the world to do very cool shit, and many have become very successful. Some of them are household names and can be found in the mainstream media for creating wonderful things. I am so proud of them and love seeing the success stories they have become.
I moved back to Brattleboro when I was 24. I worked at Turn It Up! Records and Youth Services, Inc. helping teenagers find a path to take. In these positions, I was lucky enough to meet the next generation of young badasses who have the same potential as we did many years earlier.
When they were kids, I looked at them with so much admiration and love, and I continue to do so now as I see them become young adults, striving for their place in the world.
Now, you see them out your car windows, at the Co-op, hanging around the art collectives, and spending time with your children. I relate to them more than you can imagine. They bring back the best memories of my more youthful years.
And when they do, my heart swells. I get renewed appreciation for them as I get excited thinking about the cool shit some of these people are starting to do - and what they will do in their future.
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A bunch of these young people - the same people who make Brattleboro Brattleboro, without whom we would be nowhere - are leaving this world way too soon.
I have witnessed, from the sidelines, heartbreak after heartbreak.
I write having awakened to the news that one of our totally amazing and very much loved young people is no longer here to share their life experiences with their friends.
It is unimaginably tragic. The sadness their circle feels reaches out and touches us all.
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With the passing of yet another amazing young person, I ask us all to reflect and recognize the new complexities in the lives of these younger generations.
I understand that our area is not unique with the issues it faces relative to the rest of the country, but I do know the challenges young people face these days are night-and-day different from the challenges I faced growing up.
Young people these days have so much more to contend with. In a day and age of environmental catastrophe, uncertain futures, social media pressure, rampant prescription drug use, isolating pandemics, political circuses - and the list goes on - it's hard not to feel for kids growing up in the world as we know it.
And on top of everything, we are all looking to their generation to solve the world's problems. It's hard to not be sympathetic to the real struggles we as a society are facing - the struggles that they feel the brunt of.
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It seems impossible to pinpoint the reasons this tiny community has seen what seems to be more than its fair share of these losses.
I hope we find answers. In the meantime, I do know this.
Right now, the discussion should not be about the cause of this sadness. It should be about telling the person next to you that you love them.
Right now, we all must listen. We must accept one another.
We must nurture the folks who are struggling.
We must be their allies in action, not just words.
We must stand up with them to the struggles that are not just their own, but all of ours, as a society.
We need compassion, empathy, love, and trust now more than ever. And for now, we should look deep into ourselves for all of these qualities.
You are seen and loved. Tell the people you love just that - you love them.
You never know what tomorrow may bring.