December 15, 2016, is a day that is still fresh to many in our high school’s mind. On this day Northview lost one of our own, then junior Stephen Rathbun. The tragic event shook his friends and family to the core and 2 years later, they are still feeling the effects.
But, this year, in anniversary of his passing on Saturday, those who were close to him decided to pay their respects differently.
“[On Saturday] we did 16 Random Acts of Kindness for each year that Stephen was alive,” junior and good friend of Rathbun’s Janeen Harlow said.
Harlow, along with a group of friends from Rathbun’s youth group, decided that instead of mourning his death by themselves they would get together and spread the kindness that they so often felt from Rathbun, to others.
Through his memory, Rathbun continues to inspire others. Along with the actual actions she did for random people, Harlow and the others gave out these small note cards explaining the generosity. Photo courtesy of Janeen Harlow.
“He would just make you feel good and he did that for everyone,” Harlow said.
While they all did different things around Grand Rapids to honor him, Harlow personally delivered food to homeless people, gave away cookies, and bought people’s drinks at a coffee store.
“While I was doing it and after I was pretty happy. I didn’t cry all day,” Harlow said.
Harlow said that if Rathbun were here, he would be elated that his loved ones did this in his memory.
“I feel like he would be really happy with what we were doing to honor him instead of being sad all day and crying,” Harlow said.
She encourages everyone to do something “in respect or to honor them or something that would make you and them happy instead of just staying at home and crying” on the anniversary of their loved one’s passing.
Though he is gone, Stephen Rathbun’s loving and happy soul is still impacting those who he knew and even those he didn’t.
Though he and many others are gone from our lives this holiday season, that doesn’t mean that we have to forget who they were. Harlow described Rathbun as “happy, kind, and caring” and so it made sense to her and others why they would do something in his name that created equal feelings.
Harlow also said that she would like to continue to do Random Acts of Kindness in Rathbun’s name every year.
Indeed, paying it forward is so very important! Good job Jordyn and thank you to your fellow classmates for taking the time to care!
Janeen, if you see this, I’m proud of you