Life Is Precious

Life is precious.

I am grieved for the young lives lost.
Never has a close friend died.  Nor, for that matter, has a distant friend died.

I remember the day I arrived at school and a fellow student had died in an accident.
Grief surrounded me.
I felt sorrow for what my friends were feeling, but I was not personally affected.

Time and time again the same scenario happens.
People whom I love lose someone close, someone young, someone it seems wrong to lose.

Maybe it is the small community that amplifies the loss.
Perhaps, if a ratio were given, it would show more young people in my area die than should.
The causes are often not pleasant, not that death is ever pleasant.
It cannot be as simple as a health issue.
No, it must be accidents, drugs, or suicide.

To those grieving, I pray comfort for you.
To those living, play safe.

We are not immortal.
God has given us one life.