I am sharing an open letter from the Ural site here. It is to all Ural riders but I think it is an important idea for all of us as well. Joey's passing has really shuck up that group of riders and like here, many emotions have been stirred. Here is the letter from member Dave aka Mr. Cob:
An open letter to all Uralistas,
There are times when bad things happen that leave us in a state of anger, denial, hopelessness and fear, the loss of young Joey is one such case for many on this list personally and to us all as motorcyclist and especially sidecar riders. Life if it is lived is not without risk, we could play it safe and never do anything that involved risk, we could live behind locked doors, only travel when absolutely necessary, ride the bus, etc but one has to ask is this really living?
We are only here for a short while, some of us much shorter then others but a short time no matter how long we manage to beat the odds. while here its not how much money we make or how famous we may become that is of importance its how we treat others and the good memories we leave behind that are the true measures of our time that matter. That Dan and his Son Joey, had fun riding in the Ural, the smiles they shared between themselves and with others, the joy that the machine brought into their lives and those around them and filled their hearts then and the memories of such rides that will fill their hearts in the future is what counts.
Blame and guilt are things that must be endured, lived through and put behind us if we are to honor those who have passed on, our loved ones would NEVER want us to live in sadness but would rather we live our lives as best we can and be as happy and fulfilled as we can for the rest of our lives. Yes, we must grieve, we must question, we must at times let the anger out, but we can not let the sadness of the loss of a loved one consume us and destroy our chance of lasting happiness, do so would dishonor those we loved.
Everyday we wake up and go about our lives we stand the chance of something happening to ourselves or those we love, such is life, it always was this way and will forever be this way for we are mortal and at some time will all meet our fate. That being the case let us rejoice in the fact that we are alive and be thankful for the gift of life as we grieve those who have passed on before us.
Dave
