The Mustang

Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Courtesy of Public Information Office Eric Kennedy

Media Credit: Courtesy of Public Information Office Salvador Puentes

In May of 2004 I was ecstatic. Graduation was at hand and Eric sat next to me on the Old James Stadium's flattened green grass. I could barley walk up there and I almost felt like not going. Eric calmed me down though, and we talked of the responsibilities we would have to take on after high school. It was over. We threw our hats up in the air and Eric's was the first hand I shook after I graduated.
Three years later here I stand in the same spot where Eric Kennedy and I shook hands at the pinnacle of our young lives, not for a second graduation but a memorial service for him, and Salvador Puentes. It seemed as if the whole town was present to make their condolences for two great students of WNMU. Even though I never knew Salvador his professors spoke of him as a genuinely great man.
Many people were present at the memorial because the loss of those two great students like this has a ripple effect on the town. The grief in the air rained down upon Silver City. When anyone, so young and promising is lost it hurts the whole town.
As for what actually happened in the car accident that caused the death of these two, the physics and who did what is not important. Because the moment has passed for reviewing how the other car hit their car, and how they died is once again not important. What is important is the gratitude we can take from this loss. As young people mortality seems so far away, and when the platter of reality is placed in front of us it is so hard to comprehend. We won't see these people at parties, passing by on campus, or studying in class. Mortality is what makes this life so precious. The appreciation of those around us right now, where we are right now, here is this small town. We should appreciate every little thing that touches are lives and be aware to the impermanence of it all. Because we will forever look back at these times, as the cliché goes, and smile fondly despite the harsh memories, good ones will prevail. As Sal's sister said at the memorial, "I dare you to love, love those around you each and every day."
The Service itself was filled with heartfelt sermons from all, including: professors, students, family, and Ministers from the Catholic and Episcopal Churches. The words that stood out in my mind were gratitude and action on that gratitude. To do what our fellow students failed to do. And that is to not drive while under the influence of alcohol. You see the signs, you see the effects, and I know you will still do it, and in that action you will become another road statistic for NMDT. We can show gratitude by not drinking like adolescent teenagers but the adults we should be in college, and be in a controlled environment and in control of ourselves. If there is one bad decision in the realm of alcohol there is usually two, so make it an patterned behavior to put on your seat belt when you get into the car.
Students that read this might think I sound like a bad DWI add, but take heed in the lesson that our friends have paid for. As Dennis Miller put it, "Do not put us through this again, because it is far too painful."
My memories of Eric Kennedy will always be fond, as other students memories of Sal Puentes will be too. Their faces are forever burned into my mind as others that have passed too soon before their time are. I have never seen the campus come together as it did through such a crisis. I appreciate, and love, the town and campus I live on, and came from.

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