Dear Sean,
If only you lived to see all that has unfolded. I still can’t believe you’re gone. If only you could see how much the MIT students are grateful and sad. You really had a positive impact on this campus and everyone is very sad that you’re gone.
While I remember you, you will remain my friend. And I will always remember you. Here are some good memories…
I met you at the reactor one evening while you were doing the rounds. I remember thinking it was really nice of you to come into the office and introduce yourself. I saw you the next time I was on shift, and the next. When you came to visit me while I was on shift, it really brightened my evening. I enjoyed hearing about your adventures with the outing club and your rock-climbing and green building stair-climbing. It was also fun to hear about all the nooks and crannies you found on campus where the hackers had been and left messages. MIT keeps me so busy that in the three years I’d lived in Boston before I met you, I’d hardly made any close friends. So I appreciated our friendship very much.
I thought it was really cool that you were a police officer. You gave me an insider perspective of what it’s like to be a police officer and carry a heavy belt and do target practice and meet people all over campus. Your enthusiasm for your job was inspiring. You worked so many hours every week, hardly giving yourself a break, always taking details, always quick to respond to calls, and really making an effort to get to know the people in the MIT community. You went far above the call of duty every day with your constant flow of ideas on how to improve things, particularly with the police websites and computer stuff. Out of uniform you could have passed for a student, you blended so well with the geeky style of MIT.
I will never forget the time you showed me the view of Boston from the top of the Green building; the time you called out to me on Vassar Street using the mega phone in your police car; the time we went skating; the time you helped Max and me move apartment when you carried my 10 gal fish tank down the street still with all the sand and rocks, some water and the fish still in it. It must have been very heavy. And I was looking forward to learning to drive with you in the summer. You were always only a text message away. I knew I could count on you for anything. Every time I passed a detail, I searched for your face to see if you were there so I could say hello. Sometimes when I was walking home I would see you sitting in a police car and we would chat for a while. I didn’t know you for very long, but it was long enough to know that you were an awesome friend and an awesome person.
The world needs more people like you Sean. Why did you have to go? The world needs more people who are enthusiastic about their job, help people out, cheer people up and have a contagious smile. They say youth is wasted on the young, but it was definitely not wasted on you. I could tell you enjoyed every moment of it and I’m glad I got to be part of that.
I’m so sad you’re gone. I’m so, so sad. I can’t even describe in words the sadness I feel. I can’t imagine what it must be like for your family – my deepest condolences to them. It’s really too bad that you won’t be around to continue to be a great police officer and a great friend.
Bye Sean
-Sarah
