“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there.
It doesn't matter what you do, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.” --Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451)

Ray Bradbury has had a profound impact on my life, more so than I thought any 91 year old writer ever could. His words are so beautiful; they show me how to live. I was introduced to his short stories in the 7th grade and have loved him ever since. I even took a pilgramage to his Los Angeles home this year to try and meet this role model of mine. I knocked on the front door and talked to a nurse who instructed me to contact his daughter, so I did. In the end, I wasn't allowed to see him, but it was well worth the experience. Although he has died, he will, as he wished, "live forever" through his stories and characters. Ray lives as long as his books live, and he will always have a place in my heart. Rest in peace Mr. Bradbury.