#SpeakHisName

Dear Sir Pratchett,

I join my voice today to those of all the people you’ve inspired, to speak your name and talk about how deeply your books affected me. I can’t believe it’s already been a year, I regret tremendously not getting the chance to thank you in person for the world that you created.

Thank you for giving me role models at a time where I had trouble relating to those that have followed me through my childhood, for creating characters that reached out to me and showed that it’s alright, it’s alright to be upset, to be furious, that disillusionment doesn’t make you a bad person. That no matter how low you’ve fallen you can still pick yourself up and ascend to great heights, that you and only you are responsible for who you are and the choices you make, that optimism is something you have to chose every day and decide consciously to live by it, that sometimes you just have to get on with the job as intensely as you can because no one else is there to do it, that simply believing in your dreams won’t bring you far without the hard work and that you don’t have to be born special to achieve greatness. 

Thank you for Granny Weatherwax, Sam Vimes, Susan Sto Helit, Tiffany Aching, for Death, and Brutha and every single other character of yours. through which you’ve showed humanity at its best and at its worst. Thank you for your anger, for your kindness and your thoughts. Your words inspire me every day to get things done, to create, to be kind, to strive to be better, to be, because here and now we are alive and no matter how insignificant we think we are, each of us has the power to change things.

Thank you for the puns, the laughs and the tears.

Perhaps not all things last, Sir Pratchett, but your magic will. And the ripples you’ve caused in the world won’t die away any time soon.