I read last few days about the tragic death of recent Yale
graduate, Mariana Keegan, who will be
remembered as an aspiring writer, actress and activist. I
would not have known her or felt the incredible loss were it not for this
touching and impacting essay written only a week ago for her graduation.
Here is a brief excerpt from "The Opposite of Loneliness:"
We don’t have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we
did, I could say that’s what I want in life. What I’m grateful and thankful to
have found at Yale, and what I’m scared of losing when we wake up tomorrow and
leave this place.
It’s not quite love and it’s not quite community; it’s just this
feeling that there are people, an abundance of people, who are in this
together. Who are on your team. When the check is paid and you stay at the
table. When it’s four a.m. and no one goes to bed. That night with the guitar.
That night we can’t remember. That time we did, we went, we saw, we laughed, we
felt.
This is
a really beautiful piece written by a young and talented mind, Marina Keegan,
whose life was tragically cut short... I like to try and think that everything
happens for a reason, which can be quite difficult at times, especially with
news like this. But she left this gem for all of us to take to heart, and
hopefully change the lives of some others out there for the better. Marina
wrote about solidarity and living life to the fullest - that the best of our
lives is ahead of us if we allow it to be, and that we shouldn't live
regretting past decisions. Her words are wise beyond her years, and Iwe should
all pay close attention to her message.
I recommend you take five minutes out of your day and read the entire essay.
You'll be glad you did. You'll appreciate your life - and
Mariana Keegan's life - so much more. Later in the essay she writes:
"We’re so young. We’re so young. We’re twenty-two years old. We have so
much time." No one could have realized that she had only days to
live when she wrote this.
This may be her greatest legacy: to not take life for granted.
To not take the connection to one another's lives for granted. To make
the most of every moment. Not just to get the most out of life, but to
give the most back to life. She wrote about the opposite of loneliness.
The life we live now, we are accountable of it. So live your life as if
it’s our last day here. Let me end this by sharing to you few lines of one of
my favorite songs, the “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield…
“Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten”
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten”
"God bless you beautiful hand-made of God!" ^_^
