My Friend Cory Sziraki

The following is a post I made in a Facebook Group dedicated to my friend who lived  09MAR1986 - 14MAY2012.


Well I finally got the time to post on here about my memories of Cory. I honestly didn't know Cory as well as I knew Andy. That said, I find my Cory Sziraki story to be strangely similar to Aaron Ridebmx Taylor's story. lol. I honestly don't remember what year is was anymore but given that he was in high school also at the time, I'm going to say it was my junior year of high school, but we all were out on Cougar Lane doing the whole Southview football fans thing, and I walked up behind him and jokingly put him in a rear naked choke (although I didn't do it properly or effectively on account of joking around and not knowing what I was doing...then again maybe it was given what happened). He ended up losing consciousness and while trying to bring him to the ground, I lost control and he fell on his face and broke some teeth. Needless to say I ended up suspended and went to court for it (which in hindsight, I would say that was the appropriate consequence...BTW Karen and Steve, thank you for pressing the issue, it ended up being an important life lesson for me. Go figure, even in a situation such as that, the school counselor, whether intentional or not, found a way to teach me a life lesson. But I digress.)

While I eventually smoothed things over with Andy and continued being friends with him, but Cory held a resentment over it for a while, and I can't blame him for that either, but given that I went to school elsewhere the next year and joined the army guard after that and Cory joined the Marines by the time I got done. So we never did get the chance smooth that incident over.

So 10-11 years go by and one random day I get a message on Facebook from Cory telling me how he joined the Marines, grew as a person, that he forgave me for the incident at Cougar Lane and he was over it, and that he wanted to get together the next time I was in town. We then proceeded to bullshit for a while on Facebook and got to talking about tattoos (surprise surprise, Cory Sziraki talking about tattoos), and despite not really having a lot of money to spare, he flat out refused to let me pay for a tattoo if I wanted one simply because I was a veteran.

All of that aside, the memory of Cory that sticks with me the most, and will always stay with me, was the time I spent with Cory when I was in Toledo in April. I was up in Toledo for Passover but I had just found out earlier that day that three men from my old army unit died in Afghanistan 4 days earlier including one that I had known for the better part of a decade. I concluded that I needed to go out and mourn three good men in the proper infantry manner. Given that I hadn't yet seen Cory since he hit me up on Facebook and that he was a fellow infantryman, I gave him a call and let him know what was up. His answer, without hesitation, was, "fuck yeah man, there's nothing else I'd rather do." We pretty much spent the day shooting at the range, had a couple beers and a few shots to remember our fallen brothers and shared a few stories bout our experiences in the military ranging from the good, the bad, and the ugly. Not once did he ever say anything that indicated he had earned two bronze stars for valor. The only impression he ever gave on the topic of being a hero is that if ever asked about it he would say something along the lines of "I'm no hero, but I served with heros". That first day was all I needed in order to know the character of Cory Sziraki, but that aside, at the end of the day I had no place to crash because my parents were out of town, my brother's cats shed something fierce and it caused an allergic reaction, and my sister had no couches at her place; while Cory didn't have any couches where he was staying and with my back injury from the Army, I couldn't rack out in a chair. And to be honest, I wasn't really in the state of mind where I wanted to be alone anyways and I guess Cory figured that out right quick because next thing I know we were rounding up sleeping mats, sleeping bags, and ponchos because we were going to do it up Infantry style. For two days Cory stayed outside in the elements with me so I didn't have to be alone while mourning my friends. Oh yeah, BTW, it warrants mentioning that both nights it was pouring down rain and flooding. But Cory couldn't have given a damn if it was hell and high water. My impression of the thought likely going through his mind was,"this is a friend, a brother in arms, and an Infantry brother and thats all I need to know" and for that I will forever be grateful. He went out shooting with me, and that would've been enough. He went out drinking with me, and that would've been enough. He bought my drinks despite my objection, and that would've been enough. But for him apparently it wasn't enough, and he had nothing to gain by doing what he did, no angle to play. He did what he did for one simple and pure reason; he simply felt it was the right thing to do. And I honestly believe that if I didn't tell this story today, no one would've ever known the details of what he did. 

Karen, Steve, and Andy Sziraki, I took the time to write this out, in this detail for the three of you. I want you to know the details of what happened because, as I've said, my loyalty and respect are not easily earned and the actions of your son/brother pulled off that feat inside of 24 hrs. The three of you raised a great person who was destined for great accomplishments had God not greater plans. To my friend Andy, take it from someone who was the youngest child and had an older brother, an older brother has more effect on the growth and development of their younger brother in ways that the older brother will never truly know. An older brother provides a role model, a friend, a confident, a partner in crime but above all an older brother fills a certain void that parents can never fill because at the end of the day, parents are just that, parents; a brother however provides an example and provides advice to the younger brother and often times neither one knows about the life's lessons that are passively taught as part of the inter-brother relationship, so I can promise you that you should be proud of your brother and your part in Cory becoming the man I described earlier in this post. You're influences are just as influential as your parents and as your friend I just wanted to explain to you the importance of the older brother from the perspective of the younger brother. 

Karen and Steve, your words to me at the showing meant a lot, It gave me peace to know that I had an influence on Cory in his final days and to know I had your forgiveness for what what happened in high school. May the Lord keep your family safe and healthy for many years to come; you've already made your sacrifice to his plans.

The spiritual views of one modern Jew.

     The presence of a god, or not, is irrelevant in my moral decision making. I do not need a God to tell me that helping those in need is good, or that murder and torture of the innocent is bad. Also, if I am to be a strict adherent of judaism and the old testament, Then I would have to support the stoning of homosexuals as it is an abomination and they shall be put to death. I could find several other sections of Leviticus that would be considered absurd by todays standards. Furthermore, if there is an all-powerful and all-benevolent being that is referred to as God, then I seriously have got a few questions to ask. While innocent men, women, and children are getting maimed, slaughtered, dismembered, disfigured, through the actions of both man and nature, where is this benevolence. While I get the necessity of death, I feel that any god I would choose to believe in or follow, would not be so narcissistic as to require my active belief or showing of devotion. That's not to say I don't believe in god, or even that I do, it is simply stating that I feel my time and energies are better spent doing what I can to help the helpless, to treat people equally and with fairness, to defend the defenseless, to bring hope to the hopeless. Because been a Jew and helpless, discriminated against, defenseless and hopeless, I know how it feels, I know what it's like. Having been a Jew and seeing people who are utterly helpless, who have be denigrated and cast aside or killed because they were different, having seen pulled up to places on a map where there was once a town, but now there is nothing but nature because they were massacred and incapable defending themselves, having seen the look of hopelessness in the eyes of veterans and civilians who have hit rock bottom and know of nowhere else to go. I have come to realize that to me, being a Jew is helping the helpless because I have been there and I have seen others, being a Jew is treating people kindly, fairly and with equality because, as a Jew, I've been on the other side of that coin, being a Jew is defending the defenseless because we all as Jews know what it is like to be defenseless, being a Jew is giving hope to those who have none because, as Jews, we have been through the worst the world has had to offer and yet we still survive and we can use that to give hope to others. That is what being a Jew is to me, not abstaining from eating pork or mixing milk and meat, and while there are many traditions and holidays that go along with being Jewish, and yes they are important because it helps us to remember who we are and where we came from, if forced to choose between helping others who need help, defending, or hope, and celebrating holidays, I will choose to help 10 times out of 10. Why will I? Because, more important than my identity as a Jew, and more important than a belief or non-belief in god, is maintaining ones humanity because once that is lost, nothing else matters. And while many times, or actually most times, my identity as a Jew and my maintenance of my humanity go hand in hand. While you or others may place your faiths in an entity known as God, I choose to place mine in the concept known as Humanity, that abstract idea that separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. And you know what, who's to say the concepts of God and Humanity aren't one and the same. My point is I do not know, and I really do not care because at the end of the day, regardless of if there is a God or not, I will still do what I can to help people. And that is why this quote is, in fact, factual in my case.