I have been giving myself a little time to respond to a post I saw on the thread about Eddy's passing. A poster said that while they'd never met him,that from what they had heard,he was a soild person (or something to that effect),and I wanted to share a personal story,something very dear to my heart:

Those who knew Eddy would tell you that in addition to his other great traits,Eddy was very engaging and he loved not just a great debate,but good conversation even more. I was fortunate enough in my lifetime to get to talk to him many times,but the one that I will forever be grateful to him came via a 1 hour convo that we shared in the parking lot alongside his vehicle while watching my kids warm up at PV before a baseball game. He was very fond of my 2 sons,and we were talking about them (he was checking up on how they were doing),and I was kind of beating myself up over mistakes that I had made in my life,and mistakes I had made with my boys. He shared some of his life experiences with me and talked about mistakes he had made in his own life,and he said something to me that I will NEVER forget.

"Those demons you'll never be able to drag to the ground,and that dog will never hunt Joe. You have to look at the man in that mirror every day,and say "C'mon Joe you can be better today than you were yesterday". You cannot do a **** thing about the past and that water flowing under that bridge. Life is a story about opportunities and whether you grab them or miss them,and every man walking has a chance to redeem themselves"

Those words had a profound effect on me. Eddy was not a God,a saint-just a man like me,and he made his mistakes and had his lows,but he had the good sense to self-evaluate,and upon his death this whole community poured out the respect that comes from making such a positive difference in the lives of not only me,but so many others. Eddy laid out a blueprint for me to make some changes in my own self in regards to how I should live/carry myself as a man. Directly because of this,my number of friends has boomed over the last few years,and I have earned a small measure of respect as a man on my end. I will never be an Eddy Giles-sadly this world only had one,but I am a better man because of not just that convo (the most important one I have ever had with anyone in my 38years in so many ways),but from the friendship we shared. He taught me that day that the measure of a man isn't about macho,toughness,being hard..etc. The measure of a man is amounted in the deeds he does and the example that he sets.

A few weeks ago,my buddy at work broke down and started talking to me about problems he was having at home. I was able to share what Eddy had said to me and he took it to heart,and things with his home are right now. Just another example of the gift that Eddy had giving to others so they could pass it on.
So if you didn't know Eddie Giles personally,I just wanted to share this with you to show you what kind of man he was and what he meant to so many folks just like me. I know mine wasn't the only life he touched.

I'll not start a religious debate in this thread,so please don't be put off by this. I respect freedom FROM religion just as much as freedom of it,and this is just my thought. I firmly believe that this life is short and the time we have here is but a teeny blip on the radar in the grand scheme of things. I feel that what you do now determines your eternity,that life simply does not end at death and you will be destined for an afterlife be it heaven,hell..whatever you believe. Eddy Giles lived his life to the fullest,and made a heckuva mark in his short time here. We all owe it to ourselves to self-evaluate and ask ourselves would we like to be held in that same esteem as Eddy is when our race is run? Would we rest easy knowing there's plenty of folks waiting for the honor of carrying our caskets instead of the funeral staff having to do so?

Thanks so much friends for letting me share a memory. I loved Mr.G much and his memory will never die as long as those who were lucky enough to have crossed paths with him draw breath