Heroes , what comes to mind ?
Most of us , at least the imaginative will mention something from the Marvel or DC worlds . The more grounded of us would say Fire Fighters , Police , Doctors or Nurses . All would be great answers . For me at the moment there is only one thing and one person that comes to mind . Douglas Gomez did something most of us will never have the opportunity or the will to do . He gave his life , selflessly , to save two children . Our community and the community in general has lost yet another good , kind soul . Douglas was always positive , even through illness . The smile that seemed to be a permanent part of his style touched your soul . You could not help but feel happy and a little better after evry encounter with this incredible man . Heroes , real heroes , will likely never be recognizeduntil we miss them . We asked one of Douglas ' s good friends to write something in tribute , here is what we received ; When I was asked to share my personal relationship with Doug Gomez , all these memories come rushing forward . The Doug that I know can ' t be summed up in a paragraph or one page mini story . How can you define a guys smile that almost made you put sunglasses on just to look at him . How can one person to the next not remember this amazing positive attitude that can ' t be taught . Doug was so full of life and above all had love for his fellow humans . This guy would trade places with anyone or go to great lengths to make everyone around him crack a smile . I met Doug when we were kids in highschool . Even though we didn ' t go to the same school , we hung out almost everyday day . At one point we had the whole city convinced we were cousins . Even my own parents called him cousin Doug . Like all friends we had deep conversations and laughed , cried . One thing he always said was , one day I ' m going to help others achieve thier goals . He didn ' t specify on how or what ways he would help . It wasn ' t until after high school that he got into fitness and later became a qualified trainer . I watched at times when I was invited to the gym and to some of his classes . Let me tell you I ' m not a fitness guy but boy did he expose what I needed for my body to be healthy . The way he trained was serious but he also had an approach that was different . Often times he was caught doing goofy faces or wierd Doug dances . I never ever witnessed him look stressed or greet someone with out a true connection . I bet there ' s many of us that met Doug for the first time and walked away with a part of him in our memories . He was a loyal friend , he was also a very devoted father . His daughter Jasmine was his world . He did everything together with her . She was always at his side every chance he got . He
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