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| A Life Lived |
| I went to a memorial service today. It was a beautiful service, with a standing room only crowd. Speaker after speaker got up and spoke of the deceased as being bright, driven, successful, loving… the message was clear. Here was a person who had accomplished much in their life, someone who had been a loyal friend, leaving behind many who were clearly heartbroken. Here was a person who had had an impact on the lives of every one of the speakers, had had an impact in every community – every school - he had been involved with…who had left an impression on all who knew him, young and old. The amazing thing to me was that this was not the memorial service of a man in his 60’s…or even his 40’s. This was the memorial service of the 20-year-old son of a friend of mine. Twenty. I thought back and tried to remember what I had been doing at twenty. If I had died back then, what would people have said about me? I think people would have said I was nice, a good student and maybe a hard worker. But, they wouldn’t have said the things that were said today. I didn’t question how the universe worked. I didn’t delve into politics. I didn’t work until 1 o’clock in the morning for the good of a school yearbook or a cause. I’m fairly certain, thinking back to early college years, that I was pretty much focused on myself, versus mentoring others or supporting community service projects and the like. I had my whole life ahead of me, after all. I’m sure I wasn’t ready, at that young age, to be serious about much of anything. Had I died back then, my parents would have been crushed, but I wouldn’t have left many other people in a state of complete devastation. I wouldn’t have left a void in too many lives. And I certainly wouldn’t have left my mark on the world. But this twenty year old had been different. At the age of twenty he seemingly had led a life, already. He had lived in “over-time” mode, accomplishing a lot in such a little time. He had touched many lives. He left his mark as a mentor, as an editor for his high school’s yearbook, as a memorable student to both peers and teachers alike. His passion for music, technology, movies, and so on…etched in the minds of everyone who knew him. I remember thinking, at the memorial service, at how proud his mother must be to hear so many wonderful things about her son. I wondered if that pride made things better or worse as she thought about her son. Such a promising life cut short. As I left the memorial service I thought a lot about the “promise of life”. We all work hard to get somewhere or to achieve something down the road…like we’ve been promised that there is always going to be a tomorrow and a future, so you can put off that family time or that vacation or that phone call to a friend you’ve been meaning to make. You can yell at your kid today, because there will always be a tomorrow to make up and bond. Right? You can focus on the wrong thing right now, because there will be time for the right thing later. Hmmm. You can forget about world issues or the poor or the homeless, because you can do something about that later on, when the timing is more convenient. Ah, huh... Well, the passing of someone so young made me think. Here was someone who had lived his life the right way, ignoring the idea that there is always the promise of another day. He seemingly lived his life to the fullest, day after day. His death is a great loss, but it is also a reminder to those of us who put off our greatest accomplishments and our greatest friendships until tomorrow. We need to remember. There is no promise of life beyond the moment that you are living right now. There may not be another day…so live accordingly. By Diane Blum copyrighted |
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