I would first like to start out by acknowledging that what each of us goes through when we lose someone we love is different then what somebody else has gone through.

No one person has the same experience with death, and it takes many years to learn this. Each of us lose someone different, someone that is so unique to our lives that no one else can possibly have another person like them. But the emotions are all the same. There is sadness, anger, and depression. The person seems to die every single second of the day, over and over again, because they take over every aspect of our minds. We can't help but remember what we lost.

And doesn't it feel terrible? To have your mind race with all the possibilities of your life without them. It is a natural part of life, but it is so cruel to see death, no matter who you are or how old you are. We become vulnerable to it because now we know it can affect anyone, even ourselves.

But death should be important to us. It is something that we should all acknowledge we fear because, without it, we can never grow and become stronger. We can never live life to the fullest without acknowledging that it can all be stripped away from us at any given moment. And I think that is what makes life beautiful.

A life is like a story, without the end how can we say we learned anything, or say the journey was fun but at some point what we struggled to accomplish has been achieved? The journey was long and painful but brought you together in so many ways. All lives must meet an end, but the memory is eternal. None of us truly die because we are still on Earth somehow. In some way, shape, or form.

Yes, my parents died in terrible ways, but every action and decision came together to create a purpose for their lives, and for their deaths. And I truly believe that there was a reason for them dying, that without them my life has gained a new layer, a new perspective. One that even most adults don't have. And I find the best way to move on is to find purpose in everything that happens to me, and that is exactly what I did.

In a way, their deaths liberated me from the path I was heading down, one where I know I would have withered away on. I became a more confident and happy person thanks to my aunt and uncle, and really I owe them a lot for picking up where my dad left off and keeping our lives almost exactly the same.

Now I'm in college and I have a life ahead of me. And even though I don't have what a lot of people have, there is a sense of freedom and ambition knowing that I've survived something as tragic as I did. I look around the room and I know there is probably no one else like me with the exact same perspective on life, although many might understand because of their own losses.

I lost my parents, and it makes me sad that the possibility of another life was stripped from me, but I'm happy with the one that I have now. Many people view death as a void in their lives. And while it can be, so much is gained from what we lose as well.

There are new perspectives to see, new connections to be made, and so much of life left to experience. Their deaths shouldn't deter us from finding normal lives, but instead, encourage us to live it. Life is short, after all. Sometimes, it's really short, so go out and live life like you might not have one the next day.