Sometimes, I wonder what draws the line between merely living and actually being alive. Obviously, they’re nowhere near being the same thing. Unfortunately, there are those idiots who truly believe that both of those things coincide with one another. This question has sprung out multiple times throughout my life. It happened to come up more frequently as I found myself maturing at a much faster pace, along with every single one of my other peers. As we, my peers and I both, began to mature I understood that once very serious topics were take lightly and unfortunately, often joked about.

It was my junior year in high school, there was a kid who was a year younger than me that committed suicide. Not long after, a fellow peer that I went to junior high with passed away from a disease by the name of Cystic Fibrosis. After hearing the news on one random, rainy day at school, I was in utter shock all day after then. I remembered those times I spent with him, both the good and the bad. I began to tear up sometime during school, but I refrained from actually crying.

I remember crying for long hours on end when I had someone dear to me pass away. It was my close friend’s father. He was not only a husband and father, but he was the friendly man that everyone wanted to be around at church and my friend, as well. He used to joke about me being his daughter-in-law and I joked along. I remember when he and my father used to drink together and both of them would just have the potential to crack me up. I loved seeing him make everyone smile with his very own. After his unfortunate death, I realized that the people who you hold most dear can leave without the slightest warning. From then on, I lived everyday in honor of that. After seeing his body in his nicely furnished casket, I could swear I saw him smirk a bit. I guess even the happiest of people never lose their light. Even till this very day, I feel the warmth of his smile glistening upon me.

After the recent death of a close relative, I understood that death is inevitable. It happens to everyone at one point and all in a different manner too. Some are faster than others and some are by choice while others are not.

Death comes in different forms, but the truth behind it all is that death is, in fact, inevitable. Beyond the idea of what will end up happening to each individual, it’s the fact that we do die. What makes death matter so much? It’s all about how you live your life. It’s about what you accomplish or what you can prove. Just like my friend’s dad, my fellow peer, and the student from my school, it’s how you impact the lives of the people around you. The legend that lives beyond the death of the person is what truly matters.