Life's tough? Youth deaths remind us that's relative

[caption id="attachment_4340" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Guns non violence sculpture"][/caption]

 Carol Forsloff  - "Life is tough, isn't it," she said, referring to a badly sprained ankle.  "Yes, it is," we agreed, but when we think of someone like Billy and six other teens, it is all relative.

 Billy Moore, a recent graduate of Rosemary Anderson High School in Portland, Oregon,  died on June 21
on his way home from visiting his dying mother, Valerie Martinez at a
hospital in Portland, Oregon.

His mother died the same day after a long battle with leukemia.

The family had to to bury two people in addition to facing the emotional issues from the loss of these family members.

Billy was a young man with a struggle.  He was getting work skills training
at Salvation Army in a special program tied with his high school and
trying to make something out of his life.  He was reported to be
planning to attend Portland Community College in the fall.

He was putting together a life to mean something, and news reports underline
how he will be missed by those who knew and loved him.

He died a young man, a life cut short from dreams and wishes his friends and
family say he had.  Billy had been the prom king at his school and was
known as a kind and gentle person who was helping to support his family,
as a man of the house, where he felt responsible for others as his
mother lay dying.

There wasn't a kinder, gentler kid than Billy,"
Bob Brandts, Rosemary Anderson's activities director was quoted as
saying to the Portland Oregonian.
"As big as he was, his heart was bigger. Whenever you saw him coming,
you got the smile, the hands and the bear hug. Every single time. There
wasn't one time that you saw Billy and you didn't get the love."

"He had so many excuses to take a different path, and he didn't,"
Brandts said. "I loved him for that. That's why this is a knife to the
heart. If you were going to pick the most likely to succeed, the most
likely to rise above, it would be Billy Moore. He kept his eyes on the
prize. The world was a better place with Billy in it."

Billy was reported by the police to have been shot to death 12 days
after his high-school graduation and 16 hours after he had stepped off
the bus he had taken to visit his mother.  His neighborhood is one of
those in Portland with frequent gang-related violence.

Every day there are funeral notices of young people who die, and these notices
are read by families and friends and occasionally people who glance,
then move on to more important news.

But   important news in Portland, Oregon has been the death and the funeral of Billy Moore, with
an announcement to reach out to his family.  The deaths of young people
happen often violently in America, from gunshots on neighborhood
streets.

In Shreveport, Louisiana six young people died in the
Red River from drowning because they couldn't swim.  The teens were
identified as 13-year-old Takeitha Warner, 14-year-old Jamarcus Warner,
17-year-old LeTavious Warner, 17-year-old Ladarious Stewart, 18-year-old
Latrell Stewart, and 15-year-old Latevin Stewart.

When we speak of hardships in our lives, how many of us will remember Billy in
Portland, Oregon and six teens from Shreveport, Louisiana who died so
young in the summer of 2010?

The City of Portland offers a way for the public's help in giving to
the Moore family because of the expenses of the funeral and the present
needs of the family.  They ask for folks to give whatever they can to
the Billy Moore Memorial Fund.

Those in Shreveport can call the office of the mayor or the chief of police for any way they can help the families of the youth that died from drowning this week.