Life Holds Death’s Hand

I know there are a lot of people out there who do not care or who do not understand why our society takes so much pride in celebrity culture. Why so many people want to be like their famous idol or why we even care what they have had for breakfast one morning. Some people also don’t understand why people take so much pride and care so much about a person who they do not even know and who they will most likely never meet.

But there is one thing that all people can understand. Celebrities are people too and like all people, they die in unexplainable and incomprehensible ways. These deaths are the ones talked about around the world. The ones that reach thousands of people within seconds. Yes, it’s true that we may have never met them or we may not have seen all of their contributions to film, television, music, etc. they still lived a life worth mentioning. Whether they died from natural causes, from drug or alchohol abuse, in an unexplained accident, it’s important to take a moment, to sit back and think.

To think about their lives and your own. About how precious life really is. Every time I hear about a celebrity dying I am reminded, once again, that we are not invincible. There are things that can hurt us and there are things that may one day end our lives. I go through a day to day routine and I don’t really think about death. Sure it’s always there in the back of my mind, but I don’t really think about it until someone or something forces me back into reality.

Today, I was reminded that death walks hand in hand with life. In fact, they live right next door to each other. One cannot exist without the other. They have a cohesiveness that us mere mortals cannot hope to understand. They follow each other each and every day. And one day they will finally meet in the middle. Shake each others hands. Their independence depends upon the other. We cannot escape either one. We can only hope to come to terms with the fact that each passing minute, each day we are here on this earth, is one to cherish and to not take for granted.

R.I.P Paul Walker and all of those who have left this earth. Each and every one of you were the light reaching through the dark. You may never truly know just how much your existence has brightened our own.

Humble Pie or Water Under the Bridge?

Tell us about a time you found out after the fact that you’d been mistaken and you had to eat a serving of humble pie.

Thankfully, I don’t have too many regrets in my life. Regret is a huge burden that sometimes never goes away. You are constantly thinking about what could have been. That, is almost more painful than anything.

I do, however, have one regret that sometimes nags at me. Earlier in my college days (wow, that makes me sound really old, this was really only about 3 years ago), I had this really close group of friends. The 5 of us were inseparable. We would do everything together. Spend breaks between classes together in my and my best friend’s dorm room, make time to have lunch together, go on night time adventures to State Street (I went to UW-Madison) and spend most weekends together. However, one of my friends found herself with a new passion and a new group of friends and started spending all of her time with them. Now, don’t get me wrong. Jealously does not come into this story. I am perfectly fine with my friends having other friends. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem was, was that this friend started changing. She was no longer the friend that the rest of knew when we were all really close. She started doing things differently and there was times when it seemed as though we weren’t mature enough for her anymore.

Long story short, our little group had a falling out. My other 3 friends and I stayed very close (and we still are) but our fifth musketeer was no longer in the picture. I don’t necessarily regret what happened between us, because honestly, it’s sometimes hard to stay friends with people forever. It’s just not realistic. I do, however, regret not doing anything to fix it or to try and get us back to where we once were. I just let it happen. This break in our friendship was not inevitable. It could have been prevented and yet, I just stood back and did nothing.

That is my biggest regret. Not trying to change things.

I have spent the last few years wondering what it would be like if we all saw each other again. What we would say to each other and whether or not it would be awkward. It wasn’t until about a month ago, that I saw this friend again for the first time in about 2 years. Surprisingly, everything was just fine. We got along just like we used to. We laughed with each other and talked like nothing had happened. I guess that we just needed time to get over what happened between all of us. I’m really glad to know that I can hang out with this friend again in the future and know that it’s all water under the bridge.

I hope in the future that all 5 of us can get together and just see what happens. Maybe we can all be friends again.

Pingbacks!

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