The Day my Neighbor Died

I heard the phone ring so I yelled; “Mom the phone is ringing” She goes to pick it up. A couple moments later I hear her scream. I run down the steps to my mom, trying to figure out why she screamed. She turned to me and said; “Our neighbor died.”

I was frozen in shock. No one I knew personally had ever died before. I always heard about it on the news, but it had never been anyone I knew. I was devastated, I had never really thought about people dying. It scared me. After a few days my initial shock disappeared, replaced by a deep feeling of how fragile life is. For the first time I thought about every time that someone had died and everyone around them who had been affected by it. I began to think with a sense of purpose and sympathy.

The day my neighbor died I matured, the day my neighbor died a lot of things started to change in my head. Things can happen so unexpectedly that you don’t know how to handle it. We were in the middle of a game of chess (he was winning, but I had a better set up for later). You have to be prepared for as much as possible even though you have to live your life to he fullest.

When people die, their life on this planet ends. They no longer exist in this world and the only thing left behind is their memories and their legacy. What you do with your life is vital because I believe that you don’t get a second chance.

I never thought so deeply about a subject before. This must be what they call, a “revelation” because I have never felt like I felt right then. I started to look at the world differently and thought back a lot on the best and how horrible an unexpected death is.

One of the first things that crossed my mind is the day of 9/11/01. So many people were killed during this event. None of them had a say and the majority of them probably never got to live out a full and happy life. It is terrible to think of a life as wasted but dying unexpected makes me think exactly that. Especially when it is someone who hasn’t reached adulthood yet. You have to have a purpose in life, something to strive for, to hope for, to dream for. Without it your life is truly meaningless. If you have never had anything like that then your life goal should be to find one and find it quick. Even if you die before you achieve it. That won’t mean that your life was wasted but that it was a constant struggle for that sense of ultimate achievement.

I know exactly what I want to do with my life and I have been striving for that goal since about 7th grade. I have always loved to take apart and build things. I want to be an engineer and possibly even run my own company. I want to have a name people know for a having a vast intellectual capacity. I would like to invent things that help the world and not just weapons to “protect it” That is what I want out of my life. That is my personal goal.

I have a great amount of sympathy for everyone who has wasted there life or has had it stripped from them unwillingly before their time. It is a crime even if it is an accident.

A life is important, not only what you do but also what you leave behind. What will you leave behind for the next generation? People mostly learn from those who are older and more experienced. What you leave behind for someone else is what the next generations will be like. You should leave behind a positive message so that you can continue to make the world a better place even after you die. Sort of like Martin Luther King, he is the leader of the non-discrimination in the world (my opinion). He did what he believed was right, and even though he died prematurely, his legacy will live on until all racial barriers are gone. That is a life well spent.

In conclusion, I know that I have said a lot. I know that there will be someone who will read this paper and not get my message. I know that for the people who do, it will hopefully change you. I hope that you will make your life worth something more than just getting through to the next day. You have to have a life of meaning. You have to have a purpose in life, something to strive for, to hope for, to dream for. Without it your life is truly meaningless.

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