The town of Oak Hill, New York is one of those close-knit communities where everyone knows everyone else, so when tragedy struck four young Oak Hill residents this fall, it seemed like they’d never be able to pick up the pieces. But this incredible town just found a way to show up for one another in the midst of disaster: When several high school students were killed in a drunk driving accident, their town came together to pretend they all had promising futures.
Mind. Blown. This is officially one of the most touching tributes we’ve ever seen!
“We are absolutely devastated by the loss of life of these four young people who we are going to go ahead and say had amazing things ahead of them, regardless of any evidence to the contrary,” said Oak Hill mayor Nora McCoy in an address delivered at a candlelight vigil held shortly after the accident. “We can only assume that, in spite of these kids’ lack of interests or talents of any kind, generally sour attitudes toward everyone who knew them, and overwhelming mediocrity in all areas of their lives, they were going to go on to do wonderful things.”
As if this moving speech wasn’t amazing enough, the kids’ teachers all got together to write a statement in which they claimed all the teens who lost their lives were “bound for the Ivy League,” generously ignoring their unremarkable GPA and total lack of intellectual curiosity. The high school football coach also spoke in front of the school earlier this week and announced that, even though none of the kids played on the football team and that all of them “were honestly kind of dumpy-looking,” he was willing to pretend that “all of them were probably going to make the NFL.”
If you are not on your feet applauding, you officially have no soul. This is how you show up for your community and help everyone pull through when the unthinkable happens!
While it’s devastating to think that these unremarkable teens will never realize the amazing potential their town has invented for them, the silver lining is that Oak Hill has proven once and for all that the healing power of community is alive and well in America. Here’s hoping other towns around the country take a page out of Oak Hill’s book and make up similarly awesome lies about the people they’ve lost going forward!
