In a small town, it’s not hard to know who everyone is. I think that’s why we can come together the way we do when tragedies strike. I promise that you’ll never feel the type of love that you feel when a community comes together for another family. Luckily, our small town didn’t face too many tragedies, but the ones we did really affected us. These are a few tragedies that happened in our small town and the way it made me feel and the way it affected our community.

One of the first tragedies that I remember having an impact on the community happened when I was in sixth grade. I remember walking into school and everyone was talking about what had happened. There was just this overall sadness about the school that day. One of our friends, an athlete at school, and just your typical teenage girl, was in a terrible car accident at the age of 14. She was riding in the car with her friend when he lost control of the vehicle and she was thrown out of the vehicle. I remember people talking about how the officer thought she had passed away at the scene when he first arrived and how thankful I was that she hadn’t. When we got news that she had broken her back and there was only a small chance that she would ever walk again, you could feel the air getting suck out of the room. Ashley remained in the hospital from April 20th to June 7th. We all knew that she would have a long road ahead of her and that she would need all our support. We did what we could, and every time someone would get new information on her condition we shared it with everyone we could, because the whole town wanted to know. It was harder back then to get information spread around, because Facebook was not as big and we were all pretty young so we didn’t all use it. Ashley came back to school after her accident and worked very hard. She even graduated with our class even after being out of school so long. Ashley became an inspiration to a lot of us. It wasn’t easy what she went through and she could easily be bitter about the whole situation, but she is the opposite. You rarely see her without a smile on her face, and she’s always looking for the bright side of a situation.

The next big tragedy that really seemed to pull our town together was when Nathan was in an accident. I wasn’t personally close to Nathan, but that did not stop anyone from feeling saddened by what happened. Nathan was in a car accident on August 30th 2014. He was unconscious for multiple days, had a couple skin graph surgeries and had some brain damage. Nathan had people from all over the world supporting him. A few girls from school sold T-shirts, the communities got together to pray for him, they had a Facebook group called “Porch Lights for Nathan” and a HUGE benefit for the family. There were people there helping out with the benefit that did know Nathan or his family, but that doesn’t matter in a small town. In small towns you are a family, and when something happens you step up and help people. Nathan was released from the hospital on November 6th. People lined the roads to welcome him and his family home. The community continued to surround Nathan and his family with love even after he made it home. Nathan is a fighter, some say he shouldn’t have made it through, but he did and he is doing so well now.

The last tragedy I am going to talk about is one of the hardest for me to talk about. Eden May Bisker was the happiest little twelve-year-old you’ll ever meet. Image that person that lights up the room just by walking into it, the person that always cheer for everyone, the person who never has a bad thing to say about anyone, and you’ll have Eden. Eden understood the love of God and how powerful He is; more than most people will learn in their lifetime. Eden was born August 26, 2003. After months of trying to figure out why she was having complications she was diagnosed with triple-translocation chromosome disorder, but Eden was a fighter. Most people don’t live very long with this disease and Eden kept fighting. She went to church and played basketball, and tried to be involved as much as she could. But then, Eden Bisker was diagnosed with Leukemia. She put up a VERY tough fight for 23 days. The whole town surrounded this family with love. We sold shirts, and came together for prayers, and had a HUGE fundraiser. There was a huge Facebook group where her parents shared updates and people posted their prayers. Unfortunately, Eden lost her battle on November 19th 2015. Even after Eden’s death, our community continued to come together for the family. They sold bumper stickers, continued the Facebook group, collected soda tabs for the children’s hospital, and had multiple memorials for her. The day of the funeral came around and we ended up closing school that day and had the funeral in the gym. I’ve never seen the gym so full and felt so much love in such a small town. Everyone knows that Eden went to heaven that day and that she is up there celebrating and having a great time with God. Eden has continued to inspire so many people to live their lives in the most positive loving ways. Eden showed us all how we should love and love God. Eden’s life may have been shorter than anyone wanted, but she definitely made a difference in more people’s life than most of us ever will.

I know these aren’t the only tragedies that happened in our small community, and by no means am I saying that the others didn’t impact our community, because they definitely did. Tragedies are awful, they tear people lives apart, hurt people, and do not do a lot of good. But one good thing about tragedies is that they sure do pull our little town together. When something like this happens it is easy to let go of all the hurt feelings or anger you have toward others in the community because that is no longer important. What is important is showing these families your support. I don’t know if you are a believer, but it is hard for me to believe that anyone who’s been in a situation like this or been to a benefit for someone, can say that they didn’t feel God. God puts His hands around a community when it goes through these types of things, and shows us that there are way more important things in life other than the petty drama that stems from being in a small town.

I hate that all these things happened in our little community but I thank God for teaching me what it means to be selfless and love other even if you don't really know them.