Stop all the clocks,Cut off the telephone

Victor Holk. 1986-2015

A couple of months ago Victor Holk, one of my graduate students, got caught in a house fire.  Victor, who always tried to help others before himself, rescued his wife, a friend who was staying over, and their pets but received burns over most of his body.  After weeks of being in the ICU with his loved ones praying for him, I’m afraid Victor died a few nights ago.  Victor was a really great guy who didn’t deserve to die so young.  He had just graduated with his MA in philosophy and he had just gotten married.  Victor had a lot ahead of him—he was a talented singer-songwriter, he wanted to become a teacher (and I have no doubt he would have been a marvelous one), and he and his wife were ready to head out into the world and make it a better place.  That was the type of guy Victor was.  He liked people and wanted to help them.  He studied philosophy because he felt it was a way to not just understand our existence but how to experience it.  He rejected cynicism at every turn and loved being alive. 

I won’t lie, I’m angry and disturbed by his passing.  But I don’t want to write about me right now.  I want people to pay attention to the memory of Victor.  Please visit http://www.victorholk.com and listen to some of his music.  

Goodbye, Victor.  Goodbye, friend.

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“Have you news of my boy Jack?”

Not this tide.

“When d’you think that he’ll come back?”

Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

 

“Has any one else had word of him?”

Not this tide.

For what is sunk will hardly swim,

Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

 

“Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?”

None this tide,

Nor any tide,

Except he did not shame his kind --

Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

 

Then hold your head up all the more,

This tide,

And every tide;

Because he was the son you bore,

And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!