His Name Was Lucas
There are freak accidents in life that we cannot control, but then there are things like drunk driving, that we do have control over.
We sat around the table, building an workshop about empathy for middle school kids with our words and our hearts, and my boss, a champion of art, theatre, life, and empathy, told us a story that broke our own.
A classmate of her son was hit by a drunk driver while heading back to his dorm room. The drunk driver did not stop once he hit this boy, and this young kid was killed upon impact.
He was an only child, and his parents are broken.
My boss spoke of how going to Emerson College was his lifelong dream. He had even gotten into a special program where he got to study film in Los Angeles, a program that was quite prestigious within his department of study.
When he died, he had no idea that he had been admitted to the program.
I just want the world to know his name.
She said that twice while telling this story, and it was something that stuck out amidst all of the horror.
I just want the world to know his name.
My boss, a woman who didn’t know this boy that well, started a scholarship fund in memory of him, because she’s a mother and her heart breaks for those parents, because she’s an artist and feels things in her soul, because it’s a glaring reminder about a life cut too short due to drunk driving, and because she wants the world to know his name.
There are things we cannot control in this world. And I’m not about to count them now. But there is so much that we can control - like not getting behind the wheel after you’ve had too much to drink, like pouring your energies into helping those who need it, like remembering those who have left us too soon - and doing what you can to keep their memories alive.
Like saying the names of those who give love and light to this world, and elevating them above the rest of the chaos.
Her name is Kate.
His name was Lucas.
You can donate to the scholarship fund that is being crafted in memory of Lucas Flint here.