So I just watched a video about this kid named Zach. (Link: http://www.upworthy.com/this-kid-just-died-what-he-left-behind-is-wondtacular-rip?g=6&c=ufb1) I HIGHLY recommend you all watch this video, even better before you read my rant, just 'cuz it might make more sense.
He died today. He had a rare terminal cancer called osteosarcoma..But basically he was told he only had a few months left to live. Instead of getting a surgery in which one of his legs and hip would be removed to the point that he couldn't sit up right anymore, he chose to go home, be with family and enjoy the months that remained. Long story short, he basically became my role model just from this video. He taught me MANY valuable lessons I will try to keep true as often as possible.
Now I've always tried to be the best person I could be, but after watching this video I realized I still have a long way to go. For one, one of my best traits is that I'm a very nice person..I will not deny myself this. Of course I have my faults, but I try to displease the least amount of persons as I possibly can. It's just who I am. But sometimes I get selfish. I think that if I'm just nice to people that the world will be nice right back to me. But it's not. Sometimes I'm nice, and I just expect nice things back..and when I don't get those nice things, it makes me upset. After watching this video, I realized how selfish that was. Hear me out. He was nice because he wanted to make people smile, to leave something for people to remember him by so they have closure on his death. He made the selfish decision to leave the world behind with all of these people who love him, but he chose to spend the remaining part of his life making up for it by giving something back to all of them and more. That is the type of nice I want to be now. I want to be nice just because I want people to smile. I want to be nice even if I knew something bad would happen to me anyway. Zach did that; he was nice to the world even though he knew it would kill him.
He also taught me a lot about death. What he said at the end of the video is probably one of the most impactful sentences I've ever heard in my LIFE. He says "I want to be remembered as a kid who went down fighting. I didn't really lose." When I heard him say this, a wave of revelation hit me. Hard. I knew from everyone telling me that I need to "live life to the fullest", but you don't really do that until you know you're dying (at least from what I noticed most of the time). My revelation was this: Death can be conquered and is less scary now. I mean of course it's bad, and it's awful and it's sad and cruel sometimes, but he gave me a sense of comfort. I know that if I do good things down here on Earth, I can die happy, whenever that may be. Even if good things weren't given back to me, I know that my death won't be scary, and I can just close my eyes and fall asleep, knowing that I have no regrets, no remorse, and actually live life to the fullest. I hope that I can at least aspire to live this way, and I hope you all can get something from this potentially nonsensical rant about life and death, and what Zach has taught me (and hopefully you too)!
If any of you have watched this video or did after reading this, please let me know what you think or what he taught you! I'd love to hear what others got from his video.
He died today. He had a rare terminal cancer called osteosarcoma..But basically he was told he only had a few months left to live. Instead of getting a surgery in which one of his legs and hip would be removed to the point that he couldn't sit up right anymore, he chose to go home, be with family and enjoy the months that remained. Long story short, he basically became my role model just from this video. He taught me MANY valuable lessons I will try to keep true as often as possible.
Now I've always tried to be the best person I could be, but after watching this video I realized I still have a long way to go. For one, one of my best traits is that I'm a very nice person..I will not deny myself this. Of course I have my faults, but I try to displease the least amount of persons as I possibly can. It's just who I am. But sometimes I get selfish. I think that if I'm just nice to people that the world will be nice right back to me. But it's not. Sometimes I'm nice, and I just expect nice things back..and when I don't get those nice things, it makes me upset. After watching this video, I realized how selfish that was. Hear me out. He was nice because he wanted to make people smile, to leave something for people to remember him by so they have closure on his death. He made the selfish decision to leave the world behind with all of these people who love him, but he chose to spend the remaining part of his life making up for it by giving something back to all of them and more. That is the type of nice I want to be now. I want to be nice just because I want people to smile. I want to be nice even if I knew something bad would happen to me anyway. Zach did that; he was nice to the world even though he knew it would kill him.
He also taught me a lot about death. What he said at the end of the video is probably one of the most impactful sentences I've ever heard in my LIFE. He says "I want to be remembered as a kid who went down fighting. I didn't really lose." When I heard him say this, a wave of revelation hit me. Hard. I knew from everyone telling me that I need to "live life to the fullest", but you don't really do that until you know you're dying (at least from what I noticed most of the time). My revelation was this: Death can be conquered and is less scary now. I mean of course it's bad, and it's awful and it's sad and cruel sometimes, but he gave me a sense of comfort. I know that if I do good things down here on Earth, I can die happy, whenever that may be. Even if good things weren't given back to me, I know that my death won't be scary, and I can just close my eyes and fall asleep, knowing that I have no regrets, no remorse, and actually live life to the fullest. I hope that I can at least aspire to live this way, and I hope you all can get something from this potentially nonsensical rant about life and death, and what Zach has taught me (and hopefully you too)!
If any of you have watched this video or did after reading this, please let me know what you think or what he taught you! I'd love to hear what others got from his video.