There has Been A Death

I want to introduce you to my friend Kreed, and I wish I could do so under happier circumstances. Please, if you can find the 26 minutes, do me a favor and watch this whole video.

Besides his autism, Kreed suffered from about nine different serious medical conditions. He had hyperinsulinism, severe sleep apnea which required a Bipap machine, a degenerative nerve condition, food allergies and other struggles. He spent most of the past year in the hospital, and I’ve just got the word that he passed away today. He was eighteen years old.

I have very little to say right now. Suffering like this makes no sense, and it can’t make sense. I’ve blogged before about my conviction that God is good, and I still hold that God is good, even in this hour of darkness.

I never did ask how Kreed got his name. As a Catholic I know that “Creed” comes from “Credo,” the Latin for “I believe.” I believe that life is good. I believe that everything is grace– that everything that happens, even evil things like sickness and suffering, are so saturated by the eternal, life-giving Grace of God that life will always be good, even in agony and here in the teeth of death. I’ve been blessed to know Kreed’s mother for several years, and I am more blessed that I can say that I knew Kreed through her. I have learned so much about the goodness of life from Kreed and his parents, more than I could ever write or say. Life is worth living. Life is good. Even in this Valley of the Shadow of Death, life is good.

Those are my own thoughts, not the thoughts of Kreed’s family, and I don’t want to speak for them. Here is what Kreed’s family said an hour ago: “If you want to do something in honor of Kreed then please live everyday to the fullest despite how yesterday was and what tomorrow might bring because that is how our Kreeders lived everyday of his life, he never missed a chance to experience the joy in life!” 

I want to add my own words, just from my own experience as someone who knew Kreed from a distance: please, in honor of the Man of Sorrows who is hidden in every suffering person: if you see someone who is suffering, help them. If you can’t help, at least be present to them. Even if they’re different from you. Even if they’re very different indeed. Even if they frighten you. Help them, listen to them, learn their stories, suffer with them and never be be afraid of the cross.

Kreed’s suffering is over, and he is at home. Life is good.