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Remembering a Great Friend

t's been 7 years since the best friend I ever had past away. His name was Malosi(which means Strong in his native language) and back at high school he was a very tough, very quiet, very muscular eye piercing angry looking but ruggedly handsome Samoan kid nobody wanted to cross. Everyone avoided him and he seemed like he never wanted any company, there was nobody at that school who dared make him upset. There used to be a rumor that he had killed rival gang members back in L.A where he arrived from. For me, when I first saw him, I thought I didn't want to cross this individual ever. One scene that always sticks in my mind was when he walked right down the middle of a group of big African American football and basketball players conversating, they eyed him and he gave them back a cold stare which made them all back off out of his way. For some reason I always remember that, for a young kid at 17 with a 6'4, 320 pound frame he had such a powerful presence. A Chinese female friend told me that before I arrived she was there when Malosi calmly told the football coach to get out of his face and leave him the fuck alone when the coach kept trying to make him play for the school team. Malosi seemed content that nobody talked to him and I was just happy that he never came my way.
When I first arrived to Portland from the Philipines, I was like a fish out it's bowl. My sister and I were always treated as outsiders when we arrived for our senior year. Boy was it hell when we started school. Jocks would harrass my sister and make sexual gestures to her, it used to piss me the hell off. I would get into fights defending her honor because I hated the way she was seen as a piece of meat. Even though sometimes I got beat up, at least I can say that I never stopped fighting for our dignity, never did I back away from a bully once. I just hated that stereotype they had that all Asian guys couldn't stand up for our own women or ourselves. I never quit battling but one can only take so much. One day in the cafetaria it hit boiling point. Two white jocks made remarks to my sister that got me heated, like a brother should I stood up for her. That's when they jumped on me and I took a swing that connected, then all of a sudden a blindshot punch landed on the side of my head and I was on the ground. I was surrounded by hostile jocks and a jeering crowd who laughed at me. I could see my sister crying and trying to tell them to stop. That's when out of the blue a huge figure came out and nowhere and knocked one of the jocks out. This individual who I feared more than the jocks that harrassed me all the time, suprisingly came and stood up for me. He threw the other jock into tables and chairs like a ragged doll, punching him up and really messing him up bad. Even when many other football players came to restrain Malosi he was still so very angry, it was total hysteria. It wasn't until the principal came that he finally began to calm down. What was left behind was a huge mess and a trip to the prinicipal's office. I was kinda intimidated being left alone to sit next to Malosi waiting for the principal to come that I just stood up on the other side of the room. That's when he walked up to where my sister and I were and offered my sister a seat to sit on. She obliged and I (5'7) was left standing next to this huge guy who dwarfed me. We had learnt that the two boys had gone to the local hospital and it could've been bad for me but my sister told us our side of the story which only landed me a detention. Malosi wasn't so lucky he was suspended until further notice which meant a board of trustees review. When we came out of the office, he said sorry for causing trouble upon me and simply said "Malosi" at which he also offered his hand. I shook it and answered Ramon. Eventually it was known that he would be suspended for five weeks, he told me later that it would have been less severe if he took up the offer to play football, but he stubbornly refused. It was during that suspension time for him that we got to know each other alot better. I took schoolwork to his house and helped him study and he really appreciated that. Malosi was born in Samoa, then at 9 he shifted off to Carson L.A with his parents and brothers. Soon he was surrounded by the ganglife of his neighborhood, so they stopped all his privliges even forcing him to stop playing football and a potential college career down the road when they forced him to go live in Portland with his Uncle and Aunt and focus on education at his new school. He was so much into discipline that he never disobeyed his elders his dignity was so great that he was so angry with himself by making his Aunt and Uncle come and in fight on his behalf to stay at the school. He felt he had only disgraced them.
Eventually he came back to school and we always hung out...here I was, good friends with the guy everyone feared. I came to realise that he was a kind hearted humble boy who hid behind an angry demeanor. My sister had even taking a liking to him but he was so much a gentleman about it, playing it down. I joked that if I ever find him going out with my sister I would beat him up and he responded by telling me that I would be the last person he would want to mess with. Later at a youth ball my sister eventually forced Malosi to be her date and they took the prize for Cutest Couple. I learned that Malosi was also a bookworm into Chinese history, having a Chinese great grandfather himself, he was so proud of his Chinese ancestry and loved reading about it. There was a question that always burned in me the one about Malosi killing people back in L.A. I finally asked him about that and he looked me in the eye and said that he didn't know who started that rumor only that it was untrue. He said that he didn't pursue it because he found that people feared him and never bothered him, that was the way he preferred it. One day my sister and I invited him to dinner and my parents just loved him. He was so soft spoken, polite and almost seemed shy....from that day on my parents considered him part of the family. Soon later he invited me to a big Samoan feast where the food was just in abundance and where my family were midgets surrounded by giants. Here I discovered that Samoans love to do everything BIG. That was a wonderful day, we were treated the same and everyone was so accepting of us as if we were also family. I really loved those times.
Malosi still worked hard enough to graduate with us and after senior year, he returned back to Samoa to visit his grandparents. When we farewelled him at the airport, he seemed really sad but still let us know that we needn't worry, he'd be back soon he said. My sister cried, she couldn't bear seeing him go, she really loved Malosi. Something still bothered Malosi I couldn't pick it up, he had to force a smile out of himself to assure us that he was going to be ok. Something didn't seem right but we farewelled each other expecting to see him again in 3 weeks. When Malosi departed through that terminal, that would be the last we saw of him. Two nights before he was supposed to leave Samoa to arrive back to the U.S, a housefire started near his home village as he and his cousins stopped by. We were told that when Malosi found out that a 7 yr old girl was still inside near the back of the house, he ran in and somehow recovered the young girl who was still alive. I was told that when he reached near the frontdoor way, a long burning block of thick timber fell across his back with a thud and he stumbled outside and collapsed still holding onto the little girl. The little girl amazingly only suffered minor injuries and exposure to heat. However my good friend had to be taken to hospital for mulitple burn wounds. He held on for two days trying to battle for his life....on the day he was due to arrive back to the U.S, the young warrior passed away, he was only 17 yrs old.

I recieved a letter from Malosi which he wrote three days prior to the housefire and he was loving his time there with family and friends, but he still missed my sister and me and his family here in the states. I had already found out of his death by the time I recieved the letter. In the letter he stated that "right now I'm definitely home in paradise, this is truly heaven"....meaning in Samoa. At the moment and time I red those words I knew that he was absolutely right.
Once I remember him telling me that he wished he'd never grow old...Malosi would now be forever young. I only knew him for about a year but Malosi was more than a friend to my sister and me. For such a short time we knew him, he made such a impact in our lives and left so many great memories with us. He will never be forgotten. May Malosi always watch God's back in heaven as he always did ours when he was down here on earth.

MALOSI
Rest In Peace Forever
To a happy 2002, Malosi. Rest In Peace
Tuesday, January 08, 2002 at 18:42:59 (PST)


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GOLDSEA | YOUR TRUE STORIES

[NOTE TO READERS: This page is closed to new input. You can post new true stories and continue discussions at the new improved Instant Polls & Comments area. --Ed.]

READER COMMENTS

WOW! Now that's a great story! Very heartwarming. You were lucky to have a friend as wonderful as Malosi and he was lucky to have a friend as great as you. Keep sharing his story with others. There's no better way to honor his memory.
Wonderful story    Wednesday, November 27, 2002 at 15:16:25 (PST)    [66.58.153.23]
WOW.....Very powerful and moving. Malosi reminds me of Guan Yu. May the great warrior Malosi rest in peace.
Azn Pride World Wide    Wednesday, November 06, 2002 at 17:55:37 (PST)    [64.171.2.143]
Great story my man. I commend you and Malosi for defending the honor and dignity of yourselves and that of your sister.

You say you live in Portland? Do you live in Oregon or Maine? I live in Portland, OR myself. Where did you go to HS at and college?

May Malosi rest in peace. The world needs more guys like him and yourself.

Latez

Max
Max
Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 15:27:09 (PDT)
may ur friend R.I.P. he was very brave..very very touching story
amazed
Thursday, February 07, 2002 at 16:45:42 (PST)
Wow, what a guy. May his soul rest in peace.
Impressed.
Wednesday, January 16, 2002 at 10:11:22 (PST)
Very touching story. May your friend rest in peace.
FOP
Thursday, January 10, 2002 at 00:16:03 (PST)