My dear friend, and assistant editor of this blog, Joshua Lipana died this morning after a heroic, nine-month battle against cancer.

To know Joshua was to love him. To know him well, as I did, was to love him like another self.

Joshua loved life with a contagious passion. He thought at levels well beyond his years. He wrote with an eloquence few writers ever acquire. And he laughed with a joy earned only through perfect virtue. His death is a monumental loss not only for those of us who knew and adored him, but for every person on Earth who values human ability, rationality, freedom, flourishing.

I’m too devastated to say more now.

Good bye, my good friend. What I would give to laugh with you again.