DeCarlo Polk, a class of 2007 graduate from Hillside High School, collapsed and died suddenly Wednesday, June 27th while playing basketball at his uncle's house in Tennessee. Resuscitation efforts by his uncle and the EMS failed to bring him back. Carlos, as we called him, was a role model student at HHS. He was an IB Student and was a member of the football team and Student Government Association (SGA). He was Homecoming King and he also received a football scholarship to play at St. Augustine in the fall. Carlos was a great kid who will be deeply missed.
My husband learned of his death from another teacher at HHS. Both KB and I knew Carlos, but he and KB were pretty close. KB was an SGA advisor and he taught Carlos in a leadership class. Carlos had already made plans to come spend time with us next fall since we live so close to St. Aug.
My husband learned of his death from another teacher at HHS. Both KB and I knew Carlos, but he and KB were pretty close. KB was an SGA advisor and he taught Carlos in a leadership class. Carlos had already made plans to come spend time with us next fall since we live so close to St. Aug.
When KB told me what happened, we were both in disbelief. We hoped it was just a terrible rumor and maybe someone got their facts mixed up. I just didn't want to believe that this child had died suddenly. He was such a good person and he didn't deserve to die.
I kept thinking that he didn't deserve to die. In thinking about him and life and death, I questioned, "If he didn't deserve to die, who deserves to die?" Often when people die, you hear friends and family of the deceased give accolade after accolade of the person. And normally, people will add, "They didn't deserve to die."
Most people argue that bad people deserve to die, for example ones who have killed others or molested children. I don't think this is a good argument because bad people is very subjective. Who determines whether a person is good or bad? Plus if only bad people died, then there would be no room for repentance and forgiveness (I think I've talked about this on Rell's blog); therefore, Jesus' death would have been in vain and there would be no hope for changing one's life.
So who deserves to die? I guess no one deserves to die, but we should all be aware of the fact that death comes to both the good and the bad, to the young and to the old, to the saved and to the unsaved.
Cherish life because it is short and death can come to anyone unexpectedly.
R.I.P. Carlos
