Everyone is different. Everyone comes into this world with a mission, unbeknownst to them what it is.
But as they travel through life, whether they realize it or not, they carry that mission out.
In Ryan's case, his mission was to leave the world a better place when he left it.
Whether it meant smiling at someone who was hurting, lending a helping hand when he was needed,
or maintaining his faith in the good Lord when the people around him seemed to lose hope,
Ryan Ferris gave the world an example to follow. I didn't know Ryan Ferris, but I can tell you as sure
as I'm sitting here right now that he is the single greatest inspiration in my life. I've never heard so
many incredible things said about one person, I never knew a fourteen year old boy could touch so many
lives in so short a period of time and I certainly never knew that a boy could inspire people to live better
lives. On the day that Ryan died, I had called work to let them know I would be late. When my supervisor
answered the phone, she'd told me what had happened earlier that morning. I didn't know it at the time,
but that phone call changed who I was. I never cried before over the death of someone I never knew, and
at the time I couldn't understand why. I do now. I couldn't understand why I had this calling inside of me
to do something to pay tribute to Ryan Ferris. I do now. I've talked to friends of Ryan, Ryan's family, and
other people who never met Ryan, and they all say the same things about how Ryan made their lives better
by being in them. And now I say the same thing, yet I can't explain it in words. Ryan Ferris left a light
burning when he left this world and it's been passed from one person to another since the day Ryan passed,
and at some point, it caught me, and I've done everything I could to keep that light from burning out. Even
when things get tough, even when I get frustrated at other people, or at myself, I know it's still burning inside
of me, because Ryan won't let it go out. He's been an inspiration to me since the day he died, yet in a sense,
he's not really gone because he lives on in the hearts and actions of every single person who have heard his
name. I don't run the dance-a-thon every year because I have to, I do it because it's my way of saying thank
you, it's my way of carrying on what Ryan began on January 20,1984. It's my way of letting people come
together for a common cause, whether it be to dance, grieve, or talk, and to let other people know just who
Ryan Ferris was. And I feel that by doing that, I am taking that light and passing it on to others. Ryan, I never
met you, I never knew of you until November 6, 1998, but I will never forget you. You've had more of an impact
on me than anyone else in my life ever will, so thank you, to the Friend I Never Met. I am proud to call you my friend.
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