My wife and I were so deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Sean. We wanted to extend to the Collier family our heartfelt condolences. Our hearts and our prayers are with you .
We know that pain of loosing a loved one is difficult, especially under these circumstances. But we also know that you have the support and love of many family members and friends, and that their support and caring will help to provide solace and strength to you. In that spirit we include a poem from Hannah Senesh and words from Chaim Stern at the end of this note. The warm, good and loving memories of Sean will, with time, help soften the pain and far outlast the hurt. Always remember that you are embraced by the condolences and love of the MIT community.
Fondly,
Monty and Nancy Krieger
There are stars up above,
so far away we only see their light
long, long after the star itself is gone.
And so it is with people that we loved --
their memories keep shining ever brightly
though their time with us is done.
But the stars that light up the darkest night,
these are the lights that guide us.
As we live our days, these are the ways to remember.
-- Hannah Senesh
Rabbi Chaim Stern penned words:
We can't ask for lives free of problems...We can't ask God to make us and those we love immune to disease...We can't ask God to weave a magic spell around us so that bad things will happen only to other people, and never to us...But people who pray for courage, for strength to bear the unbearable, for the grace to remember what they have left instead of what they have lost, very often find their prayers answered. They discover that they have more strength, more courage than they ever knew themselves to have...O God, teach me to be strong enough to find a moment in the day when my heart is light enough to let me smile. Even in affliction I yearn for the grace of a loving spirit.
