Two things that surprise me.
One, he was obviously very bright, had two degrees from UPenn, an Ivy League school. After that…tell me, is TrueCar a well-paying company? To my shame, I never heard of it. Also, wasn’t his degree in engineering? And the job was not even a programmer? I saw something like data entry, am I wrong? I don’t have LinkedIn on this device, but I remember his profile still listing him with Truecars, so it may be outdated. I’d expect someone with his potential and East Coast base to interview at really well-paying, huge IT companies, tbh.
Did Luigi put himself through too much stress trying to squeeze two degrees into a short period of time? BS and MS in 4 years, isn’t it too high stress? If upon graduation, plans of settling down or “buying a house”, the most costly plan I often hear vocalized, were not in Luigi’s immediate future, then of course the idea to live in a sunny paradise colony was not bad. Still, I see a certain crack appearing specifically after graduation. He worked too hard; most grads understand that after graduation you start investing in your resume.
But perhaps Luidgi was burned out? Something seems wrong in his college planning. I don’t know if it was the reflection of the family’s pressure to achieve, or his own wish to go through college fast and move away from his family? A plan like BS - then taking a gap year for travels - then MS - would have been better.
If I were to guess, Luigi himself wanted to separate from Maryland. Then settling in Hawaii could be an attempt to grow socially, but look how lonely he ends up. Ex-roommates who don’t answer letters, family not on the radar, his school friends, UPenn mates…there surely is no shortage of people stating now that he was “well-liked”, but where were they during his last two years?
From 23 to 30, finding own apartment, traveling to beautiful places one couldn’t previously achieve on a student’s budget, making new relationships while still reaching out to the old ones, is an expected lifestyle, especially for young IT specialists. Two things are missing in this equation:
- a steady job that would match his potential, and
- a steady group around him.
He virtually falls off all radars. But all of them, to think of.
Is it his spine? Does his physical pain partially reflect emotional stress? Or “something else”?
Just a thought:
1) Just questioning. Could there, indeed, have been an emotional episode that his family was aware of? Then they thought he got better, but IRL, untreated, he ended in a tragic situation.
2) More likely, the same happened, but later. His then-friends noticed signs and, whether not understanding or fearing unpredictability, marginalized him. I am just thinking aloud. Not about the act…just what was going on with Luigi. He definitely didn’t lose his academic potential, he read a lot, he expressed himself well, but am I wrong in noticing some lack of emotional growth? He should have caught up after graduation and moving out, but the opposite happened. Why?