“You are loved by Susie.”

Susie was one of the few people in high school that would look me in the eyes without fear. She would ask me questions that nobody else thought to ask. She listened. She cared about the people she didn’t get along with.

I don’t think any guy in high school who knew her didn’t have a crush on her at some point. She knew how to let go of fear and thus was able to show you the love that she felt. If you felt shy near her, she would keep on giving you attention and love until you realized that she truly, deeply cared.

Friends like Susie are rare, but only because most people haven’t developed the courage that she had- to keep on trying until all of a person’s walls are down. She was loved because of her kindness towards everybody.

She embodied the kind of empathy that many Buddhist monks that I’ve met are still aspiring towards. Although she has changed shape, her love is still around us and inside of us. She is no less alive then when she gave me a hug every morning in chorus, or when she cooked food for the homeless after school. Susie would want you to know that she lives in all of your hearts. Her heart understood that separation is an illusion, and that’s why she had such an amazing capacity for love. I hope that everyone knows how much she loved everyone, and everything. You are loved by Susie.

You are loved.

-Stefan Trilling