Eulogy(monroe Professor Kelly March 4, 2022 SP22-FYS-10102-107 Moreau First Year Experience Win The Day For J. Hello everyone my name is , I am the reflection of the man we lost just last week. As we sit here today, not in grief, but as a celebration of the man Jmick was. He was a resilient, passionate, selfless old man(Week 1 QQC. If you ever talked to Jmick, one thing you should know is he is tremendously competitive(Week 4 QQC). No matter what the situation was, he wanted to be the best. One time he and I were sitting on the porch and he looked at me and said, ”I bet you 20 dollars I can get more girl’s numbers than you.” I couldn’t pass up on this challenge. I ended up losing 20 dollars. You hear some of the best athletes ever talk about quote how hard you must work if you want to make it to the top. One time Jmick’s dad told us,” your sport or job must be an obsession if you want to be the best at it.” Of course, it was a little exaggeration, but not for Jmick. With that being said, I always made sure there was a balance between overworking and outworking. You can outwork somebody but still find time in the day to relax and make sure your mind is right. When it comes to your mind and body, you are going to need recovery and rest to put out the best work. Jmick did everything he did for God and his parents(Week 7 QQC). We used to have conversations about why we play football and try to get good grades. He would tell me, “Man I have to make them proud.” He went as hard as he could all the time so that he can know God and his parents were proud of the man he had become. There are tons of people asking themselves,” what am I here for?”(Week 3 QQC) Well, he knew. Many outsiders can see Jmick as cocky or overconfident, which he could be at times. But for how I knew him, he was just on a mission. A mission to fulfill God’s will. Believing he Mickey 2 could change the world one step at a time. He believed he was on this earth to simply make the world a better place. If you didn’t know, Jmick practiced Christianity. He believed if you have faith, try to obey, and love God, he will guide you the right way. When he was 16, his mom was diagnosed with colon cancer. He came to practice that night and told me, I figured I had to be strong for him, talk him through it, let him know it was alright. But I didn’t have to because he already knew. He always knew the right questions to ask himself. Instead of asking,” why.” he would ask himself, “What can I do to be better?”(Week 6 QQC) Often times people mistake him for is being afraid to express his emotions, and we had this conversation. He told me why would I be sad when I know God is going to take care of it. It was hard to put in perspective that a 16-year-old kid wasn’t devastated about his mom, possibly being on the edge. He knew she was going to be alright, and sure enough, his mom continued to live a long healthy life. The stories like this, I think represent Jmick the best. He was straightforward and a believer in Christ, and with that alone, he thought he could conquer the world. One goal Jaden shared with me was to be remembered and leave a legacy. A life well-lived is doing the right thing and inspiring the people around you to do the right thing(Week 2 QQC). The definition of success is very broad. One thing that I know determines greatness is legacy. He won The Waltor Payton Man of the Year award for a reason. The day he was drafted and signed his contract he gave me a call. On the phone, I told him how proud of him I was and we talked about how long he has been waiting for this day. He told me he wanted to donate to every charity in his city! I sat back and was amazed by that statement. On the biggest day of his life, he was already thinking about how he can give back to the community. My idea of a life Mickey 3 well-lived is making the world a better place while being a good person, and that’s what Jaden Mickey represented. Jmick was never a man that turned away criticism. Sometimes he could give off bad impressions on people. A lot of people may say he’s annoying and other people would say he’s calm. Most of the time, he understood the time and place for everything. One time he had a reflection assignment and he asked me to have a conversation with him, about himself(Week 5 QQC). One of the questions was, “what is something that is difficult to say but important for me to hear?” I told him, “Your ego distracts you from your core values.” As one of his closest friends, I’ve heard him try to defend his name plenty of times. As we got older, he began to stop. Whenever he got made fun of, instead of reciprocating the act, he just turned the other cheek. Now, this was a big step for him because as a kid, he would never be able to put his pride to the side. The moral of the story is, he took the criticism on the chin. It didn’t affect our friendship, it just made him a better man at the end of the day. As I close out my eulogy, I want you guys to remember, this is a celebration of life. A life that focused on serving other. He wouldn’t want you to be devastated over his death. He died an old man. I will leave you with this, live each day remembering it could be your last. Be resilient, compete, smile, and win the day!