Every Breath

Death is supposed to be for older people.

It is not supposed to come until the end of a long life after someone has done and seen all the things. The death of a young person is always tragic, both in the unfairness of it and in the abrupt ending of what might have been.

I awoke this morning to the news of a young man’s life ending far too early and through no doing of his own. It was one of those kick-in-the-gut deaths that stop you short and immediately settle into your chest.

We take so many things for granted. Our next breath and seeing someone again are central among them. There will come a time when we do not get a next breath. There are already people we have seen for the last time without knowing it.

This all ends someday, and not necessarily in some distant future as we like to think. The end is right next to us at every moment. It sits in our heart and in every breath. Living with this in mind is important.

Take some time today and be thankful for your life.

Move around, play with a child, hug people.

Help someone with something.

Tell someone you love them.

Be kind to yourself.

Breathe.

None of us get to do this forever.