Dying young

 When Dax Dixon was asked to respond to a school
writing assignment about survival, he presented his
middle-school teacher with his outlook on life. “I think it means that when life is getting you down,
just put a little humor in it to make it go up. Humor
can make you laugh, make you happy, and cheer you
up,” wrote the 12-year-old student from Madison
County, Va. Dax was an outgoing, cheerful, and mischievous child
who “always had a smile on his face,” his father, Dan
Dixon, told msnbc. “When things got him down, he
just liked to laugh about it.” He enjoyed riding his bicycle, playing in the yard, and
climbing trees with his neighborhood friend. Dax
listened to dubstep music, particularly Skrillex, an
activity influenced by his uncle who is a DJ and
producer. He also competed in roller-hockey
tournaments on a team he recently joined. Dax, a student at William Wetsel Middle School,
pitched his father three different career paths he
wanted to pursue in the future: joining the Army (to
follow in his uncle’s footsteps), flying to space as an
astronaut, and working with animals. He lived with five
dogs, five cats, a guinea pig, and ferret inside his father’s home. But he often chose to cuddle on the
couch with his favorite pet, Sophie, a German
Shepherd. At school he was a “ladies’ man,” said his
grandmother, Teresa Dixon, who took Dax shopping
on the weekends. He spent his allowance money on
clothes, his so-called “fancy shoes,” and hats. He
often exited the school bus in the afternoon telling his
grandmother: “Girls are rubbing my hair all the time. They say it is so soft.” “And,” she told msnbc, “he just loved it.” Dax was accidentally shot and killed on Oct. 26 while playing in the woods with a friend near his home in Madison County.