'This I Believe' Essay

You sit down on your couch and turn on the TV, you see a movie like, Bruce Almighty, Three Days, etc., - that the moral of the story is “live life to the fullest” and “and never take things for granted.” You read a romantic love story and the message is about the same. These movies, books, TV shows, or just stories in general have this message and it’s all cliché. Cliché enough that we can predict the whole story by just hearing the beginning part. But do we really understand what message they are trying to get across? They say “never take things for granted” but maybe we’re taking that whole message for granted. We need to understand the value and take those words piece-by-piece. Every little message life gives us has meaning.

I was sitting in school updating my Facebook status on my phone. Then, my sister comments on it saying, “Dads in the hospital.” “WHY?! WHAT HAPPENED?!” She says he was driving and wasn’t feeling too well so he pulled over and called the ambulance. I thought to myself “Did I say Good Morning to my dad today?” “Why didn’t I say I Love You?” If I knew that when I said bye to him it would be the last I ever did, I would’ve made it the best bye he’s ever gotten or would I not even say bye because I would miss him way too much that way?

I kept thinking that I was not a good child that I could’ve been more deserving of his generosity. Like at times when he’d complain about his back or his neck being sore I’d tease and say, “It’s because you’re getting old!” and when he would ask me to do something for him I’d find some idiotic remark filled with attitude to say back. This day made me want to relieve my life and watch what I say.

Finally, the bell rings! I run to the bathroom and call my sister back and because of the unsteadiness of my fingers it was a little harder to dial. She answers and I ask, “Is he ok?!” before she even has a chance to say something. She hands the phone over to my fad and I hear his voice say perfectly fine, “Hello.” Hearing his voice made my heart drop. All that built up fear all let loose and I could finally take that sigh of relief.

From this experience I realized that everyday is something special. That we should NOT be saying, “oh, I’ll do it tomorrow.” Value the people around you and the memories you could be making. They say when you go through a near death experience, it changes your life. Not only did it change my dad’s life but it changed my life. Now, I never want to take anything for granted. I don’t want to be that kind of person again. My name is Kelly and I am living life the best way.