Do Not Resuscitate

Today marked the saddest day in my life. Some one who was not very close to me, who I personally have never met before in my life, who I didn't even knew existed still until this morning

died.

My Chemistry teacher, Dr. James E. Whisenhunt, lost his mother on this fine morning of September the eighth, two thousand and eight. I was not there. I heard about how he ran through the classroom to get to the office, how he gathered his things in tears, and how he left for this woman whom he loved so much without a second thought.

And even though I never even saw the thing happen... It was the saddest thing I had ever seen in my life. For Dr. Whiz to cry because he is in mourning, to me, is the equivalent of seeing your greatest hero shed tears in front of you. In my mind's eye, I have never seen anything quite so disturbing in my own mind.


Dr. Whisenhunt is one of the greatest people who walk the earth today. In his classroom at Wren High School, I have learned more than the previous 11 years combined. He has inspired us to become our own teachers, to explore the possibilities, and to simplify things which seem to difficult.


Therfor, any misfortune of his, is a misfortune of ours.

Especially our AP class, which has become more like a family than a class.



And Mrs. Whisenhunt has reminded me of something I once learned a long time ago about death, back when Easley had its tragic loss of faculty and students alike.


My girlfriend once asked me, when all of this was happening at Easley High School, why?

And oh, I can not resist that burning question. Why? It haunts me now in every aspect of my life, and all of a sudden it even haunted me concerning the end.

And when she asked why, she meant why must we die? Why must the young and the hope filled die? Why must the innocent be swept off of their feet and guided to the great beyond?

It kind of depresses you. Makes you think that all of this is hopeless. Like all of your faith has been for nothing. Like if only you could have thought of that one you would never have wasted all of that time.

But the more I comforted her, the more I began to realize something.

It grew, much like a mustard seed, as this tiny idea - and grew into a giant tree of realization.




Have you ever seen a parabola?

Well, its a curve, and if its concave down, there is a point called the maximum, where the parabola reaches as far up as possible, or reaches the highest number possible.

and if you divert from that point even in the slightest, left or right, you change the number, and it is no longer the maximum. You have a lesser value. You have a smaller number.


So lets say that life is a parabola <--- I am a huge dork. And lets say one axis is different situations, or a different outcomes (value) for a variable, and the other is the number of people who will be saved. so its like this:
This is God's plan. Preetttty rough version. but I believe it goes something like that. Because wouldn't God want to save as many as possible?



So what does this have to do with anything?




Well, as i realized this point, which seemed to have no significance, I slowly realized something else entirely.


The situations that we go through... the things that happen to innocent people... the pain.. the hurt... the constant reminder that we are mortal....

-death-

happens, for a reason. If you alter things in the slightest, the outcome results in a smaller number (y). If those people did not die, others would burn. Plain and simple. The same goes for all of the morbid and perplexing things in life which cause us to doubt.


It seems kind of mean, but here's the real kicker.


When you wish that person had not died, they are screaming from heaven at you. I'm willing to bet they would slap you around if they could, and tell you:

"NO! I WILL NEVER GO BACK! I WILL NEVER GO BACK! THEY NEEDED ME! THEY NEEDED ME!"

and they would be referring to the lives it would cost to bring them back. Somewhere, somehow, a chain of events is altered, and the maximum is not reached. They would rather die a thousand deaths than to see that their death was in vain.

For that's really what they have done, whether they realized it or not.


They have become a sacrifice, and up there in the sky, they know this,





and they wouldn't prefer it any other way.





So here's to you Mrs. Whisenhunt.


For the ultimate service to the human race, spiritual and physical,


We salute you, and as we mourn for our loss, we rejoice for your reward in heaven;

We thank you, for raising such a fine young man to inspire us day after day;

And we wish you the best up there.

And we will never, ever, resuscitate.




-In memory of Mrs. Whisenhunt-

Rest in Peace now.