Braxton

I heard sirens last night around midnight and I didn't think anything of it. They meant nothing to me, however those sirens were the sound of a family's life changing forever.

Last night a group of kids were being kids, driving around being reckless and there was an accident. This accident was a tragedy, a loss of a young life. A car lost control and rolled and Braxton was taken from us.

Braxton was supposed to have a life and go to college and have heartbreak and find out he can't stand his Indian physics teacher who barely speaks English. He was supposed to make mistakes and have adventures and get married and have kids and teach them things. He was supposed to change and grow, have a full life. .. .. But this world is a sad strange broken place. Happy endings have become a rarity and things don't go how they are supposed to.

While Braxton's story was cut short, the story of his family and friends still goes on. And what gets me the most is that forever in their stories will be this gapping hole where a whole person was ripped out. This tragedy will become a focal point of these people's life, it will be the thing they look back to, the thing they will think of everyday, the thing they wish they could take back. But once pages are ripped out, or ink is splattered across a page, they can not be undone.

As humans we find ourselves asking why, why does this happen, and perhaps there was no reason why this happened, but letting this happen and not attempting to draw meaning from it is an insult and a waste.

So from this tragedy I have derived my purpose. I will live my life to the fullest and extract all I can from each day. I will do the things Braxton was not able to. I will not go to bed angry and I will tell those who I care about what they mean to me. Life is fragile and always changing, things and plans should not be put off because we are not promised any amount of time.

I suggest you do the same.

Tell someone you love them

-Justin