From Sari

The Purple Girl

Like her favorite color purple, Megan Heffernan was cheerful, eccentric, daring, fun - a patch of pastel in a world of browns and grays. She was uniquely talented at capturing joy, whether it was sky diving, bungee jumping, scuba diving, photography, backpacking or sleeping until noon. That happy Megan could ever be the victim of terrorism still seems unbelievable and bitterly unfair.

I met Megan shortly after I arrived in South Korea. I crashed her birthday party and discovered that she was friends with just about everyone. She was friendly, interesting, articulate. When she later hosted a party at her house so many people came that there was no place to sit. Yet, she made everyone feel welcome. Before I had left, she'd lent me a book and baked a batch of brownies. For her many friends, life in Busan will never be the same. Yet we were fortunate to have met Megan and we have much to remember her by.

Megan will be remembered for her wacky, irresistible sense of humor. One Chusok, she bought a gift set of Spam and spent 20 dollars sending it to a friend in America. That was Megan. If you visited her house, you immediately noticed that a corner was filled with framed pictures of Pierce Bronson. It's not that she thought he was particularly handsome, rather she thought it was funny. One of Megan's more memorable pranks happened on a trip to China. She dashed off an e-mail to a few friends telling them that she had been kidnapped by a Chinese peasant who was forcing her to become his bride. A friend of Megan took her seriously and contacted the US embassy. For the next couple days carefree Megan jaunted around China, unaware that authorities across the nation were searching for her. Eventually, a very unamused US embassy caught up with her.

Megan will be remembered for her astonishing desire to learn. For most of us, trying to learn Korean is overwhelming enough. But Megan wasn't content to just study Korean. On a vacation to Thailand, she did what most of us would find unthinkable. She pampered herself to an afternoon of language instruction. Instead of lying by the pool drinking something fun, she learned how to write her name in Thai. It's not that she planned to live in Thailand. She simply enjoyed learning new things. That's why she mainly read non-fiction books. She couldn't imagine spending hours reading something that wouldn't teach her something new.

Megan will be remembered for her adventurous spirit. She's the only person I know who's gone skydiving, gotten a black belt in Hapkido, scuba dived without a license. If you were planning a trip to Jindo Island, Megan was game. Thinking about mountain climbing? Megan was interested. Going rock climbing? Megan wanted to try it. She lived her life actively seeking new experiences and preferably, she wanted to take her camera with her.

Megan will be remembered for her relaxed attitude about life. If you made an appointment with Megan and arrived one hour late, Megan wouldn't suck in her breath or look at her watch in disapproval. In fact, chances are she would have just arrived herself. For all the extreme sports she was involved in, Megan was easy going. When I took a scuba class with Megan, our British instructor was constantly bellowing-"Come on America!" Not a natural at scuba diving, I was slow because I was about to be pulled under by all my equipment. Megan, however, was slow because she was enjoying the moment and wanted to take things at her own pace.
Megan will be remembered for her passion for photography. The day before she left for Bali, I met Megan at Starbucks. "I have to become a photographer," she told me. "It's just too fun." She had spent the previous weekend taking pictures at the Andong mask festival. In classic Megan form, she leaped up on the stage reserved for professional photographers and shot off 10 rolls of film. When she returned from Bali, she had planned to visit the airline magazine offices and show them her photo portfolio. Megan left so much undone, so many dreams unfulfilled.

It's difficult to find meaning in a tragedy, especially when the tragedy strikes someone like Megan. And it's impossible to find meaning in terrorism-it's random, faceless, and cruel. But one can find meaning in Megan's life. She was warm, compassionate, funny, happy, eager to learn, adventurous, laidback. A fitting memorial for those of us who knew her would be to imitate some of the principals she used to live her life by - to seek adventure, to enjoy every moment, to follow our passions, to laugh, to learn. I think Megan would have liked that.