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Make your experience eves better with our huge selection of services and products that yod motca your wnecum so ste style) I ga k veryone will leave your mitzvah with handfuls of high qua ily prints and tons of fun ano hilarious memor,es_ HAZEL 7 0V! . e. t l'' I 0 1C4 % I ilk ,AC ir 72 1 V tiiis.rom A ' TEMPLATES Call Today 248.545.6460 saYcheeseashutterbooth.com September 18 • 2014 m David Gordon from page 70 way out of the darkest of holes. By his final months, he had achieved a sense of inner peace. And his military ser- vice only served to reinforce his hard- fought appreciation for the everyday pleasures of life. He was happy. You could feel it in his words. "Unbelievably overwhelmed, not from this mission but from the sup- port and messages of encouragement from family, friends and strangers:' wrote David in his final Facebook post. "I am OK, and I've never felt more loved. Thank you all!" Even from the front lines in Gaza, his unbridled hope and love of life shone through. This was not the voice of a man on the brink of giving up. This was the voice of a man who had learned to embrace life with all of its challenges and rewards, from the pangs of silent suffering to simple joys like a crisp green apple and taking off his boots after a long patrol. David had learned to live more fully and more meaningfully than the rest of us. Yes, he carried much pain. But he also harbored much joy. He was a survivor in every sense of the word. He clung stubbornly to life when others might have fallen into the abyss. It's almost impossible to think he would have succumbed now, after all the progress he made. He loved life too much to let go. And having survived his own peril- ous journey, he wanted to do every- thing he could to help other survivors get their lives back. He devoted his own life to the cause. But he never wanted to be a martyr. He wanted to lead by living. David's Bucket List 'Fitting women for 67 years" ME^In—W—T. world In one of David's notebooks, we found a bucket list scribbled in his distinc- tive handwriting. It took up nearly an entire page. He filled it with grand adventures and grander intentions, from skydiving to traveling the world to changing the world. There was so much he wanted to experience and accomplish before he died. But near the bottom of the list, one item in par- ticular caught our eye: "Say goodbye to EVERYONE:' Knowing David, he would have wanted a final moment with each and every one of us. One last chance to share a laugh, impart words of encour- agement and strengthen us with a hug before bidding farewell. Being the writer that he was, he surely would have left a note. But none of that hap- pened. None of us got a chance to say goodbye. I find it hard to believe that was by choice. I could be wrong. I don't presume Gordon with brother-in-law Aryeh Ho at his wedding. to know what horrors he witnessed in Gaza and what went through his mind in his final days and hours. Then again, neither should anyone else. It could come out tomorrow that David's death has been confirmed as a suicide. If that's the case, none of us would run away from it. We would accept it, own it and grow from it. But until we know for sure, let's keep the focus on what we do know. We know that David touched an untold number of lives, reflected in the incredible outpouring of people from all over the world who attended his levaya [funeral] and came to pay their respects to the family during the shivah. We know that he literally saved lives, both on the battlefield and in the blogosphere, as told through countless stories and personal anecdotes shared by familiar faces and strangers alike. We know that his brave stand against the perpetrators and enablers of sexual abuse has galvanized other survivors to break down the walls of denial and fear, shining a searing light on one of the darkest corners of our community. We know that even those who per- sist in the suicide narrative have cho- sen to focus on the courage and effec- tiveness of his advocacy, according his life's mission the respect it deserves. We know that the legacy of his life far outweighs the uncertainty of his death, and no amount of speculation can dim our collective awe at what he achieved in his 21 years. We know that David lives on, in the words he spoke and wrote, and in the lives he so indelibly touched. And we know that everything I've written here, David would have said it better. ❑ This story originally appeared on Aish. corn. The JN ran a story on Gordon's life, writings and his allegations of child abuse in Detroit's Jewish community on Aug. 28.