Twelfth Grade - College Essay

A Life Changing Moment

As a young child, my parents raised me as the girl they hoped I would later become. They persuaded me to think the way I did, not allowing me to have much of a mind of my own. As a matter of fact, until last year, I didn’t even bother to change into who I wanted to be. But when I did, it happened very abruptly. I was living my life as if I had forever to reach my goals, never once stopping to think, “If I were to die tomorrow, would I be happy with what I’ve done?”

I remember the exact day I came to this realization. I even remember the moment it happened. It was a Tuesday morning in January. I was in school going about my daily routine when my phone began to vibrate. It seemed odd at that time because no one ever calls me that early in the morning.

“Hello?” I answered in confusion.

“Hey, Jenn. Do you know who Mike is?” The voice on the other end continued, “He was in a car accident last night and he died.”

It was so abrupt, just thrown in my face that someone had died. I hoped and prayed I didn’t know him. “No, I don’t,” I responded as I heard a click on the other end.

I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure of who he was, but in the rush of everything I could not put the name to a face. But then I realized it. He was a sophomore, just a year younger then I was, and he was on my bus. The fact that I saw him less than twenty-four hours earlier, running and jumping around with his friends, startled me. It all seemed so fake, so dreamlike, and I didn’t know what to say.

But realizing who it was wasn’t even the worst part. The hardest part of it all was learning to accept it. Just grasping the fact that any human being could be gone in an instant left me speechless. But I had to understand, I had to realize it and accept it because I knew this wasn’t the last time it would happen.

Experiencing the death of a person I’d known was an eye-opening moment that I could never forget. I believe I’ve become a better person from that day forward. I learned not to take life for granted. Everything and anyone can be taken away in the blink of an eye. And as many times as I hear about a death that doesn’t affect me, some day it will. Someday I’ll know the person who was hit by the car, or overdosed on drugs, and when that day does come, I’ll want my support system. So until then I’ll comfort those around me who are struggling, so when I need that comfort, they’ll be there for me.