My Thoughts on the Lives Lost on 5/20

The 20th was a big bag of emotions for me. There was a lot going on in our country, some of it big such as the Oklahoma storms and some of it big but on a different level. On one hand my heart was breaking for those hit by the tornadoes and on the other hand I had found out that a singer I listened to had lost his battle with cancer. It sounds small in comparison but not one life weighs more than the other. What was big about this kid (he died at 18) is that he had known for 4 years that he would die and lived his life to the fullest. After watching the devastation of Oklahoma I then turned to a 20 min video about this singer/songwriter and cried some more.

But there were good tears there. It was amazing to see the lives he had changed. It was amazing to see the positive and to feel the love. And, when I turned back to Oklahoma it was a return with a lighter heart. Already the outpouring of love and helping hands was flowing through in images, actions and words. Through this tragedy I know many lives will be changed for the positive. We don't see it now but when we hold those who are lost to us in our memories, we will remember the good in them and our thoughts will be on all the good that we know they would have done if they were still with us. If we hold on to that and begin to live our lives as this young man did, as if we know that tomorrow will not come for us or those around us; if we live in the way that we wish they could live if they were here, it would only make our lives and our world truly worth living for.

My heart breaks for those who have left us and those who are left behind to cope but my spirit grows stronger, it will not break for there are lives left unfinished and I still have the chance and choice to allow their legacy to live through me.

I leave you with the video of the young man who passed from cancer. He wrote this song when he was told last year that there was nothing else they could do. It was his way of accepting his death and leaving behind something for his friends and family, a way to say good bye and to let them know that all will be okay.


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