Cesar Augusto Murillo
01/21/69 - 09/11/01

Cesar lived on my floor during my first year of college. And though I wasn’t close to Cesar and didn’t stay in contact with him after school, he was the only victim of 9/11 that I knew personally.

His death was so tragic and pointless, but it helped to personalize my grief.

It made the abstract and surreal televised images all too real for me. And it forced me to confront the reality of it all. In a strange way, his death helped me to begin to comprehend the incomprehensible.

It was a strange and sad gift to have received.

He didn’t deserve to die just to give me the gift of healing. And I didn’t deserve to receive it.

So, on the 5th anniversary of 9/11, please consider sending a donation to the Cesar Augusto Murillo Memorial Fund, which “provides scholarships to minority students enrolled at or accepting admission to the University of Vermont.”