As humans, we are aware of our precarious finitude within the infinite expanses of time. We know that there is a day, somewhere down the road, that will be marked as our last. No two roads are the same in length, their ease and joy of travel, nor the scenery they afford the traveler.

Although our road can merge and intersect other roads for varying lengths of time, resulting in varying degrees of construction and/or destruction of one or both roads involved, our road is largely our own. It is partly what we make of it, and partly a cobbled patchwork of circumstance, happenstance, black ice, and rouge critters of all shapes and sizes. So it goes.

The end of the road for one, inevitably leaves us to contemplate the end of the road for us, especially, when they were taken too soon, taken when they had so much more to give.

Tim Schmelz was taken too soon, and although he had given so much of himself in the time he had, he undoubtedly had much more to give. My condolences to Tim’s family, a good man gone to soon.

I knew Tim from our time together at Burke Central High School. He, a member of the class of 1992, and myself, the class of 1991. As was the case in our small high school, mostly the same people participated in mostly all the sports, so Tim and I were often teammates.

Sports reveals a lot about an individual’s character, and in sharing the backfield with him on the 1990 Panther football team, I learned that he was someone to be counted on. Someone that was selfless and kind, someone that was always where he was needed, when he was needed…with a smile.

Our paths didn’t cross much after high school, but Facebook allowed for many of us that shared time and space in our youth to maintain some semblance of contact. Through pictures, messages, and various emoticons, we are able to remain connected, to remain a part of one another’s lives.

Through this connection, I could see that Tim was still selfless and kind, still someone to be counted on, still someone that was always where he was needed, when he was needed…with a smile. A person that gave so much of their life to help others, that it made me question whether I could or should give more of my time? I could, and should, many of us can, but Tim did.

I would like to share Tim’s words from his final post on Facebook.

To all of my Facebook friends:

If this is being posted that means I am no longer of this world. You are my Facebook friends for many different reasons; some of you are my relatives, some are lifelong friends, some are friends from childhood, some are new friends from adulthood & I’m sure I have a few friends I’ve just met once, but we shared enough to become FB friends! For whatever reason, I am happy to have been your friend in the real world and also the virtual world. I only ask three things on this day: 1. Have a warm thought for my family at this time. 2. Do a random act of kindness on this day as a final memory to me. 3. Donate any memorials to any non-profit that is involved with sick children, a few of my favorites are Give Kids The World, Kissimmee, FL; Make-A-Wish North Dakota; Ronald McDonald Houses; Mercy Kids, Springfield, MO; St Jude, Memphis. It has been a pleasure my friends. I wish you all a long life filled with happiness and overflowing with friends. When you wake up in the morning and your only goal for the day is to make a child smile, then it can’t be a bad day.

Tim