Have you ever wondered about how you would spend the last day of your life? Who you’ll be around, what song will be playing on the radio, what you’ll be wearing?
Have you ever wondered how you’ll go? An illness, an accident, an act of violence?
Have you ever wondered who you’ll be when your time comes? How old you’ll be? Will you have your dream job? A family?
Well, the truth is that you have no idea what the rest of your life ahead of you looks like. Sure, you’re in college, you know what job you want to have, whether or not you want to have children, cats, dogs and where you want to raise them, so on and so forth.
What if one day something unexpected happened to you? What if one day you were just gone.
In a small farm town called Sutton, Massachusetts this happened. It didn’t happen just once, but twice. Two brothers from the same family, from this cute little town were just gone.
In the blink of an eye it felt like the entire world was collapsing onto this little town. The bubble surrounding it popped. It popped loudly and suddenly, and nobody knew what to feel or what to say. Shock. Twice.
In 2010, Mike (16) passed away after getting tackled in a junior varsity football game. Odds are he didn’t see that one coming. Nobody did. Odds are he didn’t wake up that morning and think, “I’m going to die playing football tonight, wearing my uniform, in front of a crowd of people, listening to the pep band play.” Nobody knew that something like this would happen, not to Mike, not to little Sutton.
Five years later in 2015, Mike’s younger brother, Tim (18), passed away after swimming in a lake with his friends. This wasn’t something that anybody expected either. Odds are Tim didn’t get out of bed and think; “I’m going to die when I get into that lake, wearing my bathing suit, in front of my friends, listening to the engine of the boat beside me.” How could this have happened again? To the same family, to Sutton.
So, have you ever considered that you’ll just be you when you go? People won’t remember you for how you went, what was playing on the radio, what you were wearing at that exact moment in time. They’ll remember you for you. For the accomplishments you made, for your personality, for the impact you made on everyone around you.
So make your life good. Make your life great. Make your life something that people should write books and film movies about.
Go out there and talk to that cute boy you saw in the salad line at the union. Study hard and ace your chemistry exam. Go home, sit down, put your phone away and eat dinner with your family. Go out to that frat party and sweat profusely while jumping around in the basement. Read a book, hike up a mountain, laugh, love, smile. Enjoy the little things, don’t stress about them.
Be educated. Know what to do in case of an emergency. This is so important. Take a CPR and first aid course, learn how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), know who to call, be safe. You can make an impact. Saving someone from being gone is something that should be on everyone’s bucket list. Being prepared will matter.
The point of this article isn’t to tell you to “Carpe Diem.” Yes, it’s true, you should seize the day, everyday, but the point is that you’re not going to be here forever. You don’t know how long you’ll be here. The boyfriend or girlfriend you had in high school won’t matter in ten years. What you post on Instagram won’t matter in a week (once the likes stop rolling in, of course). What you wore to the bar won’t matter tomorrow when you roll out of bed. One bad test grade? It won’t matter. None of this will matter when you’re gone.
Today, while grieving the loss of both Mike and Tim, nobody thinks about the bad grade on the English paper they might have received, or what they wore at that party. Nobody thinks about that one bad play Mike made in a football game, or the shortest distance Tim ever threw the javelin at a track meet.
Today, while little Sutton comes together in grieving the loss of both Mike and Tim, we think about that amazing catch Mike made. We think about Tim’s longest throw. We think about the kind, caring souls that touched the lives of everyone they knew. We think about their sarcastic humor and their bright smiles. We think about their family and how they are transposing their grief into efforts to save lives one AED at a time. We think about what made Mike and Tim, Mike and Tim.
Today, while grieving over recent, heartbreaking events here at UConn, try to take tragedy and turn it into triumph, as Sutton has. Learn from those that have passed that life is an incredible gift filled with endless uncertainty. Spend each day truly believing that it could be your last. Though we can never be sure about how the rest of our lives will play out, you can be sure about a few things. Be sure that you live fully and live freely. Be sure that you tell those around you that you love them. Be sure that you love yourself. Be sure that you love every second of your life and everything that matters to you.
When that day comes and you’re suddenly gone, what will matter is how you treated those around you. What will matter is what you’ve accomplished and all the differences you have made in the world throughout your time here. What will matter is the love that you both shared and received with those around you.
You never know when your time will come. You don’t know who you will be in the future, or how long you have left. So, go out there knowing what little you do; you’re still here. You’re reading this article. Make the absolute most of your time with this beautiful life of yours that’s filled with endless ambiguity and mysteries. Focus on the things that matter.
Because in the blink of an eye, you’ll just be gone.
Make it worth it.
