i don't need to know why....

Anthony Sloan
Much has been written on Anthony since his unexpected, tragic, and sudden passing on May 7th - here's my perspective.

I first knew "of" Anthony ~ 6 years ago. A friend of mine, Donnie Nix, sent me a link to his photos from Mount St. Helens and I remember being fascinated and mesmerized by the images he captured.

I meet him in person on the Commando Run ride and got a chance to tell him in person how much I loved his photos..and i was pleased when I saw he caught me and jeny lounging at the top of a climb...photographed by AnthonyS - i thought that was very cool.

Over the years as the spheres of our personal universes overlapped - we moved from acquaintances to friends...

he always had a kind word for me and it seemed he had the uncanny ability to say something that really pleased me:

• 'i like your socks' (this is when i first ventured into my argyle sock phase)

• 'looks like you were motoring down the Cowboy Up rock garden really well' (this was after a horrible crash in that rocky section so i was very happy he validated my ability to dust myself off and try again)

• 'it's so nice to be on this trail without the masses' (as we crossed paths going opposite directions on a weekday on kenosha - I was feeling very happy and bit smug that i snuck off on a weekday to ride it to avoid the weekend crowds)
  

it wasn't that i was special - this was the way he treated just about everyone.

That was Anthony - uncannily having the ability to say something that made the other person happy. Also the word I hear people say the most is that he 'inspired' them. Not a bad legacy to leave.

I don't need to know why...

Maybe it's my experiences as a Victim Advocate, maybe because I'm older, maybe I'm not deep enough to ponder it.

But to me the answer is 'there is no why - it's just the way of the world'.

baby polar bears get lost and starve, kids get cancer and die painful deaths, people are wiped out by earthquakes, the list of tragedies is endless but it's not personal. The world is indifferent, yes sometimes people make poor choices and people are the cause of much heartache but the world/nature is still indifferent.

There isn't always justice..that's the way of the world with all the beauty, pain, joy, sorrow, injustice, love, complexity...

This is life (which always includes death)

Is it fair?
absolutely not
Do I want to know *what* exactly caused this?
yes
Is it possible there will never be a definitive answer?
possibly
Would I want to know why if it was someone closer to me?
maybe

but seeing the world as i see it
i don't need to know why...

i just know the world lost a good man...


I'm ending this post with one of Anthony's mesmerizing photos :

It is indeed amazing what a mere 225 million years can do. I'll not bore you with the details of petrification, the short story is that this was once a tree lined stream located near the equator on the now defunct continent Pangea. Drift and uplift have now rendered this landscape into a grassland.
photo credit and picture description credit - Anthony Sloan

and from a quote from someone on the mtbr forum...

What a wonderful person we had gracing our little niche of planet,
at our little niche of time,
making it all that much bigger.

hfly

godspeed..Anthony...godspeed...