Fallen Comrades

Pokémon is forever in my heart, or at least for a very long time. What is not forever is my physical being, or for that matter, the physical being of others. Over the past month or so, I and my friends had to bear the bad news that two of our comrades are no longer with us anymore. While I must say that I don't actually personally know the two comrades very well nor any relations they have to Pokémon, losing them is like losing any other comrade with ties to Pokémon. And in fact, Pokémon fans had lost a couple of important comrades some time ago.

One of those is Eric Medalle, who as I've mentioned in my post about logo colors, is the designer of the international Pokémon logo. As the story goes, he was involved in a freak accident that no one totally expected. I first learned of the news while browsing through Wikipedia's "Recent Deaths" list, and I felt distraught for some time. While I've accepted the fact that he's gone, I still feel like a part of me as a Pokémon fan is missing. Prior to this, fans also lost Maddie Blaustein, who provided the voice of Meowth in the original English dub.

The moral here is that no one is physically forever. I have to face the fact that I stand to lose people that I'm close to or even slightly distanced, and whether or not they are close to Pokémon. At least, what remains is their spirit, and that is what we should carry with us and remember. By the same token, there is always a chance that I'm called, and then others will lose me. If I am, then I ask at least of the same thing. I loath to make this post because it might sound prophetic (and it's not - please!), but to hear the loss of two of me and my friends' comrades one after the other is disheartening, and that becomes the impetus for this post. It is one I need to make sooner or later, but now has become the time.

So to the two comrades of my friends - and the two Pokémon comrades - that I've (we've) lost, may you rest in peace. We'll try our darndest to keep your memory alive, just as it should be for anyone who has left. You'll be forever in our minds and in our hearts.