I posted this on my own personal blog, but since I just discovered this anonymous blog, I thought I'd post here too.
Since I don't live far from where I work (NC State), I usually ride my bike to work. This gives me an opportunity to get some exercise each morning, and it also allows me to relieve work stress at the end of each day.
For the past two years, usually in the Spring, I've seen a handmade sign on Avent Ferry near the Burger King. The sign was a memorial for a young man named Dustin, who I always guessed was killed in a car accident nearby. The sign had a url at the bottom of it, but until today, I've never been able to remember the url by the time I got in to work. And I'm not even sure why I thought of it today, because the sign is not out there right now. But I did remember it, and so let me pass it along:
http://www.dustinsgreenhouse.org/
When you get to the web site, it becomes immediately apparent that Dustin Green was loved by his family and friends and that he was a positive influence on everyone he met. He died in a car accident in April of 2002, not far from where he lived as a Freshmen at NC State.
But here's the interesting thing. Dustin's death, though tragic, is not the focus of the website. Instead, the website focuses on Dustin's life, and on the affect he had on others. His parents are now taking what they learned from Dustin's life to help improve the lives of others. They've created a Scholarship called Dustin's Greenhouse Fund. As the fund has grown, they've been able to use this fund to make positive contributions to the community, from awarding travel and college scholarship to students to giving money to a Georgia family that lost everything when their apartment caught fire.
After poking around the website for awhile, I realized that the idea of celebrating the life rather than the death of a loved one makes a lot of sense. So I made a $25 donation.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, I guess I hope that those who read my blog will be similarly touched by Dustin's story, and will visit his website. And by doing this, Dustin's legacy will continue to live and grow.
Posted by anonymous at June 29, 2004 4:58 AM | TrackBack