And Then A Hero Comes Along.....

            Maya Angelou said many wise and profound things.  Among my favorites is, “I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people.”  Not that it needed framing, but this so perfectly describes a young man who is a hero of mine in every sense of the word.  Mike Petrina.

            For those of you who were not fortunate enough to know Mike, you missed out on an opportunity that for the rest of us was truly special.  Please allow me the chance to remedy that in some small way.

            Mike Petrina was a tenor sax player in the band at Houston and graduated in 2008.  His last year, he was our low reed section leader.  He was tall and strong.  I never met anyone who didn’t like Mike.  How could you not like him?  He smiled all the time.  He gave hugs that even intimidated me.  Mike was that rare mixture of extremely competitive and deeply caring.  He could get his section to do push-ups, not as punishment, but as a team building exercise….. and be HAPPY about it.  He turned loading the equipment truck into a party.  As literally as possible, to know Mike was to love him.

            Mike started a martial arts club for band members.  This accomplished much for the kids who participated.  It gave them an activity they seemed to enjoy, brought them closer together as a group, gave the “puny” among us a chance to pal around with giants like Mike, and (alluding to the quote above) “made this a better place for all”.  He put a lot of time into it but the benefits were almost entirely for others.  You see, Mike didn’t need the exercise, he was already the only one in the room that knew what he was doing, and he already had more friends than the average person could adequately service.  He did this to help others.

            I ran across a picture of Mike and a friend of his the other day.  Megan Reeves and Mike were painted up like “Braveheart” warriors to go to practice on a hot asphalt parking lot.  This is the sort of thing he did to make life more interesting for the rest of us.  His life was full of those little efforts.

            Like all of those band members before him, Mike graduated and went on to other stuff.  Unlike some of you bums, he visited regularly.  He graduated from college and became a Metro Police Officer in Nashville.  Upon his graduation from the police academy, Mike was presented with the Chisty Dedmon Spirit Award in recognition of the fine officer he had become.  He was truly the best of the best. 

            On May 10, 2014, Michael Petrina was killed while working an accident scene on I-65 in Nashville.  The circumstances are senseless and frustrating and not to be detailed here.  Suffice to say that Mike was doing his job protecting and helping folks that needed his help.  He was just being Mike. 

Today (April 7) is his birthday.  As fitting a day as any to remember all that Mike was to so many of us.  As I have spoken with Mike’s friends since his passing, I have noticed something that to me is special and profound.  All Mike meant to us, through the life he led and example he set, is still as strong and undiminished today as on that awful day in 2014.  For those of you who did not get to know Mike, regardless of when you passed through the halls of Houston, just take the person you most admired who was loved by everyone they met and you begin to touch on what Mike Petrina meant to so many of us.  He was kind, passionate, gentle, strong, protective of all who needed it and fiercely loyal.  Most of all (selfishly) he was my friend and I still miss him terribly.