#2 Three Cups of Tea

Earlier in this year, I lost my little cousin. He was just a kid, still in school, had the rest of his life ahead of him. He was taken from us in an accident with an ATV four wheeler. It's one of those things you hear about and never imagine it happening to you, so when it does it is awful, raw, and unreal.
It was because of this awful experience with my cousin, Shane, that made me be able to relate to Greg Mortenson's reason for trying to climb K2. His sister had been terminal, and just recently died. In tribute to her memory, he was going to climb the worlds second highest mountain, his greatest challenge yet, and leave his sisters necklace at 28,267 feet. I almost cried when I read this, right in the middle of the school cafeteria. I felt so bad for him that he failed, because in a way, I knew his disappointment. Shane lived in South Carolina and his memorial was held on a weekday when I could not come. I felt horrible, because my father said he had never seen so many people congregate in the little town. Everyone had come, except me. I felt as if I had to do something, anything, to distinguish that I knew and loved this person, and that he was not just some other tragic victim. I didn't resolve to do anything so wild as to climb a mountain, but I did write a poem in his honor and submit it to a contest. I would like for it to win, to be a tribute to Shane, just as Greg Mortenson climbed for his sister.