Luc Bourdon: Remember The Man He Was, Not The One You Assume

As it seems happens far too often, a young promising sports star was taken from us yesterday afternoon.

Luc Bourdon has been beckoned to join the Angels of Sean Taylor, Dan Snyder, and others with promising careers and lives ahead of them, who have met their own tragic fates.

I'd like to be able to say exceptional and glorious things about Luc, however I can't.

If I could, then I would tell you that he was a hard-working guy, who was also always looking to have a good time. He always held the most important things close to his heart, like family, friendship, and being a good, well-rounded person. He never had to think twice when a person was in distress, and he could always be counted on for a laugh or a shoulder to cry on.

I'd love to be able to tell you all that.

I can't however. It's not for a lack of wanting to, but if I did then what would it mean? Is it right for someone who has barely watched Bourdon play the sport he loved, let alone someone who doesn't know him, wax the poetic?

Whether it's true or not, I can't do it in good conscience—I'd feel like I would've disrespected his honor and his memory.

To say that he was 'just being a reckless youngster' however, would account for the same though.

Whenever a young figurehead in society is involved in a near-fatal or fatal automobile accident, the finger gets pointed and the cliches get throw around with unhealthy quickness.

"He was being reckless, it's his own fault."

"He was just being a hot-shot like all of the other ones."

"I guess it goes to show you: wealth gives you carelessness, not cautiousness."

If anyone were to say that, then I'd have to ask them where they were at the time of the accident. Were you on the bike with Luc? Were you in the truck that he collided with? Were you on the road in his direct vicinity?

If you have no proof of his "careless young attitude" then you have no right to criticize—just as I have no right to speak to who this young man really was, aside from an exceptional hockey player.

Just because he's young and is entering a profession where money isn't an object, that doesn't equate him to being a "young hotshot".

Police have said they could attribute the accident to inexperience on a motorcycle, resulting in an ill-advised lane change, or a gust of wind changing his course unexpectedly.

That doesn't sound cocky to me. That just sounds unfortunate and all too common.

I drive to Kitchener, Ontario every Wednesday. You don't think I'm not concerned about losing control of the car, or what other people are doing or thinking in their car?

Despite cars being so useful for transportation, you're never quite safe in them—and sometimes there's no way of preventing the unexpected.

As far as his ownership of a "reckless killing machine," I'd point out to you that hundreds of young people own motorcycles—it was Luc's own friends in fact that convinced him to purchase the one he was killed on.

Does it make him any worse than any other person with a motorcycle?

No. It just makes him unfortunate. Unfortunate in a sense that this is an accident that could happen to anyone—car, motorcycle, or truck—and that to discriminate how the accident occured and what it happened on because of who was driving it is just as unfortunate.

He was inexperienced, and we all know you learn some tough lessons when you start something new—this is probably the toughest.

So if you choose to remember Luc Bourdon, then remember him as you think you should—if pretending he was your best friend and that you knew him inside out is comforting, or you prefer just to remember him as the face of Shippagan, New Brunswick and a future NHL star, then so be it.

Just be sure to give the honor to the man who's life looked to be filled with so much promise, and give him the respect he deserves.

To call this a eulogy—I feel—would be a travesty.

A eulogy should be spoken from someone who truly knew the person, and was truly impacted by them—not a pretender, only expected to write about and feel for what the "news" is.

What I can offer to Mr. Bourdon, is my deepest regrets and sympathy from one man to another, and thank him for all of the hard work he put in to prepare for what would have been one of the most exciting times of his life.

Unfortunately, neither ourselves or Luc Bourdon will get to experience them.