Castle Shima

Do you know how to describe a decent day at work? You say "Well, nobody died today."
-- Karen, from a conversation at work

::: Tower View :::
Paean
How ironic that came to mind this day. Karen's sister had been a survivor of a corporate office shooting so our office had picked up the saying as a catch phrase.

"How was work?"
"Well, nobody died today."

The wierd part is that someone did die today.

RP was a programmer that worked in my area. He had worked for me for a short time period since I was soon after promoted to a different team in the same area.

I found him to be a quiet, intellent sort. RP's personal life was abit torn due to home issues, but his wife and sons were an anchor for him.

And this morning, he died.

Nothing nefarious or by accident. Just plain gone. In a blink of an eye.

That just seemed so strange.

To know someone, yet not to really know them. The feeling that they were just there because we keep taking for granted how short our lives are.

Then the morbid thoughts came up.

"This is just an excuse for him to get out of work."
"He heard we were going to assign him to the project from heck."
"Hey, who gets the dead guy's pc?"
"Oh, would you want to sit in that cubicle? There could be like a ghost in there or something."

Yes, we were being abit sick, perhaps even irreverant, but at no point were we disrespectful. RP was a good man and a valued person. Not only by us, but most importantly, by his family. He will be missed.

God speed, sir.
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* If I should fall to rise no more,
* As many comrades did before,
* Ask the pipes and drums to play
* Over the hills and far away.
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