I am 19 years, 22 days, and give or take 5 hours old, and my life consists of about 10 million minutes of memories, ideas, and experiences that have created the Diana Nicoletti the world sees me as, the person my friends and family know me as, and the girl I am slowly, but surely discovering.
Sure, I have had some bumps in the road, as I am sure most of you all have, and life hasn’t been a Caribbean breeze with no worries in the world. But, that’s just life; it is a roller coaster of emotions that send you spiraling upside down, make your stomach drop, and when you get off the ride of Life, you either feel the need to barf up that elephant ear or triumphantly throw your fists in the air knowing you did it.
For some, they haven’t been allowed to live the 10 million momentous minutes that many of us have, but impacted lives in ways my typed words can’t even begin to describe. For others, they have been graciously fortunate to live millions more, yet they fail to make even a sliver of a difference.
We have about 7 billion people in this world and it still amazes me how insignificant we truly are individually in the big scheme of things. On our beautiful green planet orbiting around a giant luminous sphere of plasma that together float in a sea of stars in the Milky Way galaxy, is it even possible to make a difference? I know I am throwing a lot of numbers and some sciencey things out there that I don’t even comprehend, but when you really look at the world we live in, the colossal task of actually doing something with your life seems like you have independently become Atlas Shrugged, “the giant who holds the world on his shoulders” and it feels impossible to accomplish even the slightest change.
But, as our favorite bald headed, round spectacle wearing monk once said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” And Gandhi was right. It’s easy to kick your feet up, rest your hands behind your head, and say, “Oh, I’ll do that tomorrow” or “ Someone else will do that for me”, but what will that do for you? Maybe you will do whatever it was you were supposed to do today and instead do it tomorrow, but you are wasting seconds in the millions of minutes you barely have in the hour glass of life; who knows when that time will run out.
I am no hypocrite and I too do this way too often, as well. I let my room get messy with clothes cluttering the floor, I push my work out schedule further back, and I even catch myself saying, “Oh someone else will clean that up” or “I’ll go on my run tomorrow, Netflix is calling my name now”. The big question is WHY. Why do we do this to ourselves? Why not start making a difference now instead of waiting until it is too late? I am not saying become the next President of The United States, but just start doing something.
I did not know this man, but my mom does business with his brother-in-law, so that’s how I discovered his story. USA Today, CNN, and other news sites have done countless articles about the tragic death of John Bieniewicz, 44, of Westland, Michigan. From reading through some of the online news, it seems as though Bieniewicz was a good person. He was a family man with a wife and two sons the ages of 9 and 13, loved today’s youth, and was a referee for high school, collegiate and professional soccer. During a match in Livonia, Michigan, Bieniewicz was punched by a player with such a forceful impact that he was pronounced dead two days after the brutal blow to the head.
Link for the fully story here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/2014/0...
Bieniewicz was here on this world refereeing a soccer game one minute and gone the next. How is that even possible? From reading articles and hearing things that my mom knows about the family, it seems like he had made a difference though. He has left a dent in this world, although it might be tiny compared to the 7 billion people inhabiting Earth, he had made his mark. And, after that is all said and done, that’s all you can try to do.
At this moment, I am adding another minute to the 10 million in counting minutes that I have. Bieniewicz had lived about 23 million, and with his time, he made a difference. No one knows when or how he or she will go, but we all do go someday. So, now is better than ever on making a change, doing good, and working hard. Start small and work your way up. Stepping on that roller coaster of Life might be terrifying at first, but you can either see it one of two ways. Exhilarating or mundane. I like to think we all would prefer to embrace the first choice. So, with that, I implore you to check out the link at the end of this article. Bieniewicz was the primary breadwinner for his family, so without his support, his family will most likely struggle until they can get back on their feet. We want his boys to have a good education and grow up being strong men, just like their father. This link below provides an opportunity for you to donate to his family and help raise money for the boys' education for the future. The goal is $200,000 and just in days people have helped raise almost $153,000. This is your chance to truly make a change in these children's lives, to start doing something now. Donate and help them reach their goal and help them strive for a great education. Make a difference.
man running in forestPhoto by 
