Excerpted from e-mail...

A teammate of my sister, who lives in Mongolia, recently died tragiclly of an undiagnosed leukemia condition. He was 25. Below is an excerpt from an e-mail I sent my sister.

I have read with a few tears the updates mom forwards me. It is odd how the simple and ordinary life of someone you have never met can feast on your heart. Pardon a moment of selfishness, but a part of me wishes I was there to see and watch these events unfold. I don't mean this in an insensitive way at all, but it is a remarkable thing of which to play a part.

It makes the touch of death real, and the hope of real life not such a dream. Living here trains one to think "I am immortal", and death is merely a fairy tale told to keep people from smoking. But in the midst of perpetual youth and a seeming eternity of tangible acquisition, no one knows what life is. I think if we all had an opportunity to dig a few more frozen graves for youth who were full of life and love, we would see that the reality of life is intangible.