The sound of waves crashing onto the shore. The bright blue sky with a few puffy white clouds. The scenery after a long, peaceful hike with the warm breeze blowing through your hair. These are things that I remember most during five years of living in Hawaii. Before the summer before my senior year, I had managed to make may amazing friends and create many heart-warming memories for years to come. But with every great memory and experience, there comes a tragic one.
Even though I had never truly been close to him, Linden Quintal was always more than just a name. Those who didn't know Linden well knew him for the smile he would show off walking down the halls every day. The Hawaiian people are known to be very friendly relaxed people who are happy to help in any way they can. It is very rare not to see people of the Hawaiian culture greet you with the brightest smiles and friendliest words, and Linden was the perfect example of this. I remember the first time I met Linden on a tour of the campus freshmen year. Most students were making their way towards lunch or procrastinating the minute before a class, but Linden was one of the few that stopped to welcome me to Damien Memorial High School.
As I started freshmen year, he would check up on me to see how I was doing and there wasn't a day that he would walk away with that bright smile of his. For Linden, that smile would never fade because even if everything in the world was against him, tomorrow was going to be a better day. While Linden and I never became the closest of friends, the smile was reserved for everyone. On the seniors' last day of school in 2014, I was able to wish Linden good luck and I told him that I knew he was going to do great. These are definitely cliché words, but I truly believed that Linden was going good places in life because of the type of person he was. These were the last words that I would ever exchange with him and the last smile that he would ever give me.
On January 10th 2015, about seven months after he graduated, Linden Quintal was killed in a car accident. I remember reading the news over winter break and I was completely stunned. How could a person as good as Linden be taken from everyone? There was no question that I was sad about the news, but nothing compared to seeing the impact that Linden had on everyone around him. Returning to school, things were oddly quiet. There was not much laughing or talking, just mourning and solitude. The funeral was going to be taking place just week after Linden's death and on that day, streams of busses came to the school to take those who were going to Linden’s funeral, but I am sad to say I was not one of those people. People came back from the funeral even more broken than before and I will always have the memory of one of my best friends breaking down as she talked about putting Linden’s favorite flowers on his grave.
The atmosphere at Damien was not the same friendly environment that had been seen for the longest time. It was as if a piece of Damien was gone. There was no longer a smile so bright and a person so friendly to change the course of a person’s day. For the longest time, I struggled with the fact that I hadn’t gone to Linden’s funeral and was unable to forgive myself. Seeing people in pain and suffering is what truly led me to forgive myself and this is also how Linden impacted me. His death made me who I am today because I wanted to be there for people and be the example that Linden led. That was the case at the time and that will always be the case. We will always need people in our lives who can lead that example and change something as simple as someone’s day.
The sound of waves crashing on the shore. The bright blue sky with puffy white clouds. The sense of community at Damien and within the Hawaiian community. These were some of Linden’s favorite things about living on the paradise island of Oahu, and he will always live in our hearts and memories as an example of the type of people we should be to one another.
