Branches

Since my last post much has happened. It’s crazy the amount of things that can happen in such little time actually. My hometown recently experienced a tragedy that has effected me in ways that surprise and scare me. A senior passed away in a car accident, marking the fourth death among our high school community this year.
It’s absolutely amazing to see our small towns coming together to support one another in times of need; it shows the compassion of humanity, especially among teenagers who are too often stereotyped to be incapable of depth of thought and emotion. My heart goes out to the family and friends of those four beautiful souls. It’s astonishing to me how someone I didn’t know can have such an effect on me. This week I’ve been struggling to wrap my mind around the fact that these students are gone, that their families are left with one less member, that their seats in class are empty. It physically makes me sick to think about this cruel reality.
It made me think how each of our lives directly and indirectly impact so many others; friends, family, strangers. This picture encapsulated that idea, how one life can effect so many others. This tree begins as one single trunk and then branches off to the thinnest of limbs. It reaches out far from its base similar to the lives each one of us lead.
A keen quote by my favorite transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau states, “It’s not length of life, but depth of life”. This holds so incredibly true, particularly in times like these. When we can no longer depend on time, one must focus on the amplitude of the life lived. One measure of this, I believe, is the number of lives we have touched. The number of people who can honestly say, that person changed me for the better, that person helped me in a way I will never forget or simply, that was a person I could count on for a good, genuine laugh. So that is what we strive for. To be the best person we can be, to be kind and altruistic, absolute and passionate, never taking life too seriously.
These four lives will live in our little community’s memory forever as a reminder to live exquisitely and to value family and friends the most.
Rest in eternal bliss AM JG PH GC