Under the tender remembrance and hopeful charity of yesterday’s food-packaging event held in memory of Zak Husein, the UA student arbitrarily shot and killed last December, lies the quiet disclosure of a lesson to us all: to realize what we have.

In the hustle of a University life, in the never-ending procession of assignments, obligations, opportunities, risks, and appointments, things once sacred to people in times of greater leisure are easily forgotten or taken advantage of. So much so, that when those things are unexpectedly removed from us, we are left not only with the bitterness of loss, but the even more intense bitterness of knowing we might not have appreciated what we had in the first place.

It is clear – Zak was not one of those people. From the testimony of his dear friends and family, he was in possession of that rare gift of appreciation which always manifests itself in selflessness, kindness and generosity.

An event such as yesterday’s, then, was surely what he would have wanted. More than 40,000 meals packaged for those who need them most – those who know the true appreciation of food, for its absence makes it more dear – is the essence of the selflessness Zak’s legacy will leave behind.

And when his tale stirs the sympathies of more and more with time, more and more do we hope similar acts to yesterday’s event, no matter the scale or size, will happen too – more and more do we hope an appreciation akin to Zak’s will make us aware of what we have, so to give to others what we don’t need.