Farewell, TaTa

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them, I shall use my time.

– Jack London's "Credo"

and so we bid our friend adieu today during a moving ceremony held at the SF yacht club along the bay.

lots of tears, lots of pictures, lots of stories, lot of memories...

and lots of inspiration.

the inspiration to go forward and carry with us the many positive characteristics our compadre brought to this world.

the inspiration to push life a little further, to reach out and connect a little more, to have fun like there's no tomorrow, and to cherish our family and friends like never before.

the inpsiration to make our time on this planet count as much as possible.

and the inspiration to Never Forget Jerry Tuttle...

In Search Of...

the notion that all things in life happen for a reason has never sat well with me.

i acknowledge it as a way of trying to make sense out of bad things that occur... as a means for seeking the meaning or the positive behind the destructive or the pointless.

i just don't buy it.

way too convenient. way too predetermined. way too emasculating.

with fate at the helm, what choices do we actually have in life? if there is some inherant meaning baked into everything, then we are merely pawns playing out some scripted uberplay.

in this sense, everything happening for a reason takes all the variableness out of life... and all of the challenge and accomplishment along with it.

a different scenario here is that things do not happen for a reason; rather, we make a reason out of things that happen.

a subtle nuance, but a significant one.

the meaning isn't there until we make it so.

if someone gets fired from his job, and he mopes around depressed and stays in bed all day, it's doubtfull too much good is going to come of it.

but if he takes this dismissal as the impetus to change careers and pursue something he really loves then he has truly advanced his cause.

the meaning is not in the event; it's in the reaction to the event.

and so, carrying this approach over to our pal, jerry tuttle: did jerry's death happen for a reason?

hard to imagine.

but can we make a reason out of this tragedy and use the leadership, the courage, the compassion that jerry shared during his life as motivation for better contributing to this world?

yes, this i believe.

Dark Days Indeed

We say that the hour of death cannot be forecast, but when we say this we imagine that hour as placed in an obscure and distant future. It never occurs to us that it has any connection with the day already begun or that death could arrive this same afternoon, this afternoon which is so certain and which has every hour filled in advance. ~Marcel Proust

and so it was the case with our good friend, jerry tuttle. death untimely arrived and wrest him rudely away from our grasps, catching us all off guard.

and while there's much we can say about how full jerry lived his life, there's not one among us who could have envisioned that his time would soon be up.

thus, we are left with a sense of emptyness and of longing for the good times that were surely to come.

and even though the funeral procession took place yesterday, it will be a long time coming before any of us are prepared to say goodbye...

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a west coast memorial for jerry is currently being organized by some folks at JMP Securities, the company he founded. (JMP is currently running a nice tribute to jerry on its home page.)

also, a friend of tuttle's, matt roche, has posted a stirring piece about jerry that definitely hits the mark.