In Memory of Kent Moore

A  ndrew Kentigern Moore was one of the most naturally virtuous men I have ever met. He died in 2012. I got to know him during my time at Thomas Aquinas College. In the following article I will share three anecdotes of Kent which I was fortunate enough to witness. I consider the following anecdotes to be characteristic of Kent’s many virtues in life, not the least of which includes intelligence, piety, deep compassion for others, amiability, modesty of soul, and honesty. Kent’s passing at such a young age was a loss greater than we will ever fully know.

A Discussion On Digital Piracy

Kent and I were in the same class section during our sophomore year. One day before class, a few students were discussing the ethics of digital piracy. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the issue so I mostly just listened. After a few minutes, it was clear where the discussion was leaning: students were using a claim from St.Augustine to suggest that digital piracy was not morally wrong and shouldn’t be considered illegal. Eventually Kent, who was also listening, interjected with passion in his voice. I don’t remember exactly what he said but it was something like this:

“Listen, if I spend hours and hours programming something and you then download it and use it: PAY ME!”

Digital piracy is a huge moral question of our time. There is reason to believe that digital media is not always fairly priced and that most of the profits generated by digital media go to executives rather than the individuals who actually do the work developing the media. At the same time however, Kent understood that when someone downloads a product without paying for it, many hardworking people are not being compensated for their work. I have no doubt that the U.S. will have to contend with issues relating to digital piracy for years to come. However, in a world full of people like Kent Moore, developers would never be in danger of losing compensation for their work. More than anything else, Kent’s comment was an expression of sympathetic indignation for the people who put their heart into their projects and hope to earn a decent wage from their efforts. Though he had everything to gain by denouncing laws against digital piracy, his sense of equitability would not allow him to justify letting people go uncompensated for their work.

A Class On The Wife of Bath

One of our TAC seminar readings was the Canterbury Tales. The Canterbury Tales included one of the most controversial readings of the year: The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The Wife of Bath’s Tale, featured the depiction of a bawdy scene: at one point, a woman tricks a man into kissing her ass. This did not go over well with many of the more sheltered students. When we got to the portion of the seminar where we had to discuss the Wife of Bath, Kent prefaced his points with one of the most amazing things I have ever heard a fellow student say. It was something like this:

"I really didn’t like The Wife of Bath’s Tale, which is why I’m going to work twice as hard to defend it."

When it came to the Wife of Bath’s Tale, the school was mostly divided into two camps: the students who thought that the tale was distasteful, and the students who thought the tale was just fine. The former party typically considered the latter perverse, while the latter party typically considered the former to be prudish and overly sheltered. Kent would not let the social climate affect his honest impression of the reading. At the same time, realizing that his perspective could be wrong, he was not going to let his impressions get in the way of giving the Wife of Bath’s Tale a fair chance to be academically enriching. When I heard Kent say this, I realized what a self-reflective, courageous, and fair person he was.

Commentary On Mr.Arias’ Anecdote

During a class party, our teacher — Mr. Arias — told our section an anecdote from many years earlier. Apparently, Mr. Arias was in a TAC class where the students decided to play a small joke. The joke was a bit silly and involved a student wearing a ghost costume and coming out from under the table during the middle of class. Little did those students know that there was a prospective student observing the classroom. The presence of the prospective student made the pranksters feel rather embarrassed for going through with their prank. Mr. Arias concluded the story by noting that the prospective student never ended up attending TAC, implying that the awkward prank might have had something to do with it. Soon after Mr. Arias finished his anecdote, someone mentioned that our party was low on ice. Kent and I volunteered to pick up some ice from the kitchen. As Kent and I were walking to get the ice, he began commenting on Mr.Arias’ anecdote. Kent was disappointed that the prospective student did not go to TAC on account of the prank. He said something like this:

"If I were that visiting student, seeing that prank would probably have encouraged me to go here: it would have shown me that the people here don’t take themselves too seriously."

This comment was perfectly characteristic of Kent Moore. Kent didn’t have a pretentious bone in his body. In an academic environment like TAC, Kent’s levity and good humor was a true blessing.

Final Thoughts

Please pray for the soul of Andrew Kentigern Moore. He will continue to be remembered and missed by everyone who knew him. The world needed and still needs more people like him.

posted by Jesse Blacklock on 04/04/2018