Enock

Almost exactly one year ago to the day I started a new job and when I did I met Enock.  Today a year has passed and he has been declared brain dead.  The cause is not important.  Tonight I write with sadness in my heart for the loss of one of the most genuine good hearted people I have ever had the fortune of meeting.  For the first 6-8 months at my new job when I was getting in early and he was sitting on the other side of my cube he would stroll in and casually say hi.  I can't even describe why he was good natured or what it was about him that makes me say this, but I just know.  My only interactions with him were in the work environment, but you learn a lot about someone when you see them everyday at work.  Through some extraordinary good fortune he won some sort of lottery allowing him a fast tracked process to a work visa in the US.  He came here legally with a degree, worked his ass off in retail, and eventually got a corporate job.  By the time I had met him he had been in the US for 4-5 years and already had a Green Card.  About a month ago he got his US citizenship and I vividly remember him excitedly telling us about the chance to vote in this presidential election.  He was soft spoken and with a subtle sense of humor.  When you least expected it he would crack a joke.  One day I saw him at lunch feverishly eating a Burger King sandwich.  I questioned why he was eating that when he normally ate at home.  He told me that his first meal when he came to the US was from Burger King and occasionally he likes to remember that.  He and I would regularly talk about soccer matches especially when big ones were on.  We followed the Euro 2012 draw together in December 2011.  We went to see Barcelona lose to Chelsea in the Champions League Semifinals in 2012 at a local sports bar.  Just this week I talked to him excitedly about the Euro 2012 match between Germany and Netherlands.  I had hoped to watch it with him, but he mentioned he would be out of town.  The other day during the match I thought of him and considered sending him some score updates.  And then in the blink of an eye when I came back from lunch I heard the news.  There are some people that you meet in life who are there briefly, but make an impact.  They will never know their impact and even if we forget about them in the long run they will always remain with us.  Tonight I mourn the loss of one of those people.