A little over a couple of weeks ago, I posted about An Interesting Night outside my next-door neighbor's house. To summarize and add new details I didn't have at the time, some lunatics at someone else's party wandered over down our street, set off a few illegal fireworks, and bolted once our neighbor's tree was alight. That moment, where a few yards stood between their tree going up in smoke and their house going down in flame reminded me how other dumb people can ruin all that a smarter, more careful person has done.
Recently, I've had a similar, slightly stronger, reminder on the topic. When I got home after school on tuesday afternoon, there was a story on the news about a crazy circumstance not too far from where I go to school; even closer is where a couple of my really good friends live. Someone had been driving down the street and had started having a seizure. This person lost control of the car, and plowed through two fences into the front of a home. No one in the home was hurt, and the driver was okay, but before the car smashed into the house, it hit a 17 year-old boy. This boy died.
Now there were a couple people who instantly came to mind, but based on what time the media-folk said the accident had happened at, I knew they were safe. This morning on the school bus, some of my friends and I were having a discussion about who it could be. This afternoon, I learned the identity of the boy who was killed. And while I can't say he was a friend of mine, or that I'd seen him recently, I knew him. I knew who he was.
While I'm not crying for him, I don't want people to believe these events don't give me pause. To me, it shows how we can be here, and then we're gone. For some people, this idea is easier to swallow than it is for others. Some people believe in an afterlife, and that as much as they don't want to leave this life, there will be something waiting for them. But people like me don't have that belief. So it gives me a couple thoughts.
This makes me want to live my life to the fullest while I have the chance.
And it makes me scared that I may not even get the chance.
I'm sorry to hear about the boy who died. Last year, someone I knew in passing was killed in a drink driving incident so I know how it can shake you up, even if you didn't really know the person. It just seems so surreal that one moment you can be here and gone the next - especially with people so young - and all it takes are lapses in judgement or freak accidents.
ReplyDeleteHowever, you can't live your life in fear of what might happen. When these things happen it does cause us to reevaluate and put things into perspective, but the fact is that you can't plan for such accidents. Realistically, it's so much more likely that you are going to have a long, healthy, happy life, so try to cherish that thought instead of worrying about what may or may not happen (which I know is easier said than done, especially given the circumstances).
Hope you're okay.