Remembering Amy Young

There are many things I have been meaning to write about on this blog - many student initiatives that are transforming our campus and community to make it a more sustainable place - but all those stories are going to have to wait a little longer. Because right now I want to take a moment to remember a Pacific University alumnus whom I never knew very well, but who I know made a very significant impact on this campus and on all those around her. I just recently learned of Amy Young's passing away on December 2nd, and it is her life that I want to commemorate, however inadequately, in this post.

As I said, I did not know Amy very well - other people on this campus could and have described her accomplishments far better than I. But here is what I did know: Amy was compassionate, sincere, creative, and cared deeply about the world. She appreciated the small things in life. She was an activist in a way that I'm afraid I will probably never be; Amy could bring people together to laugh and have a good time while making the world a better place. I know that I am am sometimes a bit of a down-with-the-evildoers type of activist, with a tendency to focus on the negative. Through what I had a chance to see of Amy's work, I glimpsed a different way of changing the world - one that is deeply compassionate, inclusive, and positive. In addition to her Creative Writing major, Amy pursued a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies, and she cared deeply about people and the environment. I know this caring came across in her involvement in many activities on the Pacific campus.

I want to dedicate this post to the memory of Amy and what she did for those around her. I myself am a senior scheduled to graduate from Pacific next month, and I know that as we students prepare to go out into the real world we have a tendency to focus on our own lives, our career goals, our plans for the future. But what if you didn't have much longer to contribute to this world? Would you be able to say that, like Amy, you used your time here to help others in the best possible way? In Amy's memory, I urge anyone who reads this to take some time out of your next afternoon just to smell the grass or enjoy the sunshine; to make someone else smile; to perform some small act of compassion and kindness. This is a blog about sustainability, about world-changing. And in the end, isn't it through small acts like these that we will really change the world?

No life with as much promise and potential as Amy's had should be cut off as soon as her extraordinary life was. But even to those who knew her just slightly, like myself, she has left behind a legacy of kindness. If each of us could make the positive impact on this planet that Amy did, the world would be a much better place. Please remember Amy's struggle.

Remember Amy Young.