If I Die Young

These are a lot of muddled thoughts in my head; I don’t expect you to understand.

This may seem morbid, but some recent events that I’ve heard about lately that haven’t affected me directly but have affected people I know have inspired this.
A body was found last night that is believed to be a girl who had been missing for over a week at NIU. I didn’t know her but I had heard her name before; she graduated the year after me at Neuqua. http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/10/dekalb-police-call-news-conference-in-missing-student-case.html
Last weekend, a junior at my high school was camping with his family and a tree branch fell on his head and killed him. Just like that, a tree branch randomly fell, hit just the right spot on the head, and a young life was lost.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39738057/ns/local_news-chicago_il/
Last night, an act in Trollstock sang “If I Die Young”. That song just resonated with me. When I got back to my room, I searched the song on youtube and looked up the lyrics. The vocal range was just amazing. The band was actually singing something about life, not just random lyrics with a good dance beat. It might really think about life. Next, I saw a facebook status update about Toni Keller. I then typed her name into Google as I’ve done several times the past week to follow what was happening. My heart crushed when I read the news that human remains had been found.
This may seem cheesy and everyone says this. But right I’m just feeling this. You really never know how long you have on this earth. The lyrics said, “I’ve had just enough time”. If you were to die tomorrow, could you honestly say that you’d had enough time? We all have things we want to accomplish out of life. I made a bucket list of 100 things over the summer and so far I’ve only done three. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw8W6hYGZ0E
The lyrics also said that life isn’t always what it should be; a mother should never have to bury her baby. That is just so true. You hear about a senseless tragedy and feel for the families who have to go through losing a child. A few weeks ago I saw a quote that really inspired me by Arthur Ashe, “If I were to say, God, why me? about the bad things, then I should have said, God, why me? about the good things that happened in my life”. I think it really takes a strong person to say that. I googled his name after I read this, and found that a lot of interesting things had happened in his life. He was a champion tennis player and considered this a blessing. He was an African American born in the late 1940’s and experienced discrimination. He was an activist for civil rights and protested the South African apartheid. Shortly after winning the Wimedelon, he suddenly had a heart attack, which seems unusual for an athlete in his thirties. This brought attention to world about genetic heart disease. He had to have two heart surgeries after that. In the 80’s he discovered he’d contracted HIV from the blood transfusions he received. This was at a time when not much was known about AIDS and there was a lot of prejudice around it. He died of AIDS related pneumonia around the age of fifty, leaving behind his wife and a young daughter. The fact that he didn’t question the bad things that happened in his life shows a lot of character. The average person questions and is even angry at God over life events. But to be able to accept with courage and look at your blessings is amazing strength.

Another point in the lyrics also say that people will listen to you when you're gone. Last Wednesday I wore purple because of all the gay students have died recently from hate crime or suicide. How many people did Hitler have to kill before people stepped in? How many people had to die of AIDS before people wanted to do something about it and drop the stigma. Sometimes you have to die to have a voice. You'd think people could listen to you when you're alive. People shouldn't have to die for things to change.
I don’t think there is anything that in the world that can justify or even lessen the pain from a tragedy. Every day life reminds that we live in a fallen world. But I think you have to remember that you are blessed with life. How you spend it is up to you.

My Favorite Things

1. the Bible
2. dogs
3. laughter
4. my laptop
5. diet coke
6. shoes
7. trees
8. politics
9. working out
10. rainbows