
Handwritten card from a student at Goddard Middle School in Littleton, Co. The front cover contains the following quote attributed to the movie star, James Dean: "Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." A Star of David appears below. Another quote, attributed to the author, August [middle initial and last name redacted] appears on the bottom right: "An empty box in an empty room is hard to fill, but over time it fills slowly..." An open, empty box appears above. The left inside flap reads: "Dear Jeffrey Myers, I want to stay I understand your pain. But the truth is I don't. I hope and you community will feel better and overcome this tragedy. - August [last name redacted]." An illustration of pieces of paper labeled with affirmative words, including family, encouragement, friends, love, and help, falling into an open box held by two figures appear below. The figure on the right is labeled "the world." The right inside flap contains the following message written in large bubble letters: "Only you can make your world BETTER."
In the days after the October 27 attack, people began leaving objects at two locations outside the Tree of Life synagogue--one at the corner of Wilkins and Shady avenues in front of the Zittrain Gardens, and the other on a private lawn at Wilkins and Murray avenues, just beyond police barricades. Community volunteers moved the entirety of these two memorials inside the Tree of Life building on November 14, 2018, for preservation purposes. Most of these objects including this one were moved to archival preservation over the following year, but a small number were arranged in public display in the windows of the Hailperin Sanctuary. Rauh Jewish Archives staff and volunteers dismantled this display on February 16, 2023, and the objects were brought to the archive for preservation. Goddard Middle School is a public middle school in Littleton, Colorado.