Death, Grief and True Happiness
Well thanksgiving is coming up this Thursday and I am super excited to be going home and relaxing! I only have to get through today and my sculpture critique and then go and clean my house before I leave and head home to NC!
There has been a lot on my mind lately. First is the death of a former friend Greg Powell who died last week in a car accident. It was night and he was walking along side the road with his head phones in. I'm guessing there was a dip in the road, and Greg was crossing the road and when he first started crossing he didn't see any cars but when he was in the road the car couldn't stop in time to not hit him. The poor driver will probably have nightmares for years about what happened, if it was me, I wouldn't drive for a long time.
Greg was a great guy, he always wanted to be happy and to make other people happy. He was hardly ever mad, and if he was it didn't last long. He loved music and was always playing music and singing along quietly, or not so quietly. Greg used to sit with me and my group of friends at lunch for 9th and 10th grade. Without him there it wouldn't have been as much fun. He also made crazy jokes and talked in funny voices. Greg will be greatly missed, but he isn't gone forever. He is up in heaven waiting for his friends to return home with him.
His death really puts life in perspective to me. He was my age, so young, not expecting to die anytime soon. To me his death reminds me how short life really is, we never know when the day is that we won't walk the earth any longer. Life is meant to be a challenge, it is difficult and full of trials and tribulations for a reason, and that reason is that life is a probationary stage. It is the place that we prove to God that we want to return to him, it is where we prove if our hearts are of good intent of bad intent by the choices we make and what we do here on earth. I feel like many friends of young adults or teenagers who pass away will say things like "Yolo" and "Live life to it's fullest" as an excuses to make bad choices, such as smoking everyday, doing drugs(not just weed) and drinking all the time. Using weed or alcohol to numb the pain is the easy way out and will never bring you true happiness. It is just a cloak that may give you instant happiness for a day or a few hours, but when the high fades away and the alcohol runs dry, what are you left with?
True happiness comes through serving others and keeping you're body pure and healthy. The video of the Dali Lama that I posted down below is a perfect example of how to achieve peace of mind and true joy in ones life. You can never be happy through worldly objects or creations like money or cars or drugs, happiness comes from within, it comes through the warmth of other people, and the warmth you feel inside when you help another person.
When an event such as Death of a friend or family member or even a pet occurs there needs to be a time that you allow yourself to feel grief, allow yourself to cry, to scream, to be angry, to not accept it, to question life, and then you must move on, moving on does not mean to forget, but the step out of the past and accept what has happened. Grief does not mean drown yourself in alcohol or smoking to help rid the pain, because that will never make the pain go away, it just covers it up for a short amount of time. When bad things strike, its okay to cry, its okay to yell and shout and be upset EVEN FOR BOYS! Never try and hold something in, it will only make it worse, also talk to someone about it, call a friend, call a hotline if you want to, but don't ever isolate yourself and take it on alone.
My thoughts and prayers are with Greg and his family and friends. His funeral is tomorrow, and I hope I am able to attend.
with love, Arianna
There has been a lot on my mind lately. First is the death of a former friend Greg Powell who died last week in a car accident. It was night and he was walking along side the road with his head phones in. I'm guessing there was a dip in the road, and Greg was crossing the road and when he first started crossing he didn't see any cars but when he was in the road the car couldn't stop in time to not hit him. The poor driver will probably have nightmares for years about what happened, if it was me, I wouldn't drive for a long time.
Greg was a great guy, he always wanted to be happy and to make other people happy. He was hardly ever mad, and if he was it didn't last long. He loved music and was always playing music and singing along quietly, or not so quietly. Greg used to sit with me and my group of friends at lunch for 9th and 10th grade. Without him there it wouldn't have been as much fun. He also made crazy jokes and talked in funny voices. Greg will be greatly missed, but he isn't gone forever. He is up in heaven waiting for his friends to return home with him.
His death really puts life in perspective to me. He was my age, so young, not expecting to die anytime soon. To me his death reminds me how short life really is, we never know when the day is that we won't walk the earth any longer. Life is meant to be a challenge, it is difficult and full of trials and tribulations for a reason, and that reason is that life is a probationary stage. It is the place that we prove to God that we want to return to him, it is where we prove if our hearts are of good intent of bad intent by the choices we make and what we do here on earth. I feel like many friends of young adults or teenagers who pass away will say things like "Yolo" and "Live life to it's fullest" as an excuses to make bad choices, such as smoking everyday, doing drugs(not just weed) and drinking all the time. Using weed or alcohol to numb the pain is the easy way out and will never bring you true happiness. It is just a cloak that may give you instant happiness for a day or a few hours, but when the high fades away and the alcohol runs dry, what are you left with?
True happiness comes through serving others and keeping you're body pure and healthy. The video of the Dali Lama that I posted down below is a perfect example of how to achieve peace of mind and true joy in ones life. You can never be happy through worldly objects or creations like money or cars or drugs, happiness comes from within, it comes through the warmth of other people, and the warmth you feel inside when you help another person.
When an event such as Death of a friend or family member or even a pet occurs there needs to be a time that you allow yourself to feel grief, allow yourself to cry, to scream, to be angry, to not accept it, to question life, and then you must move on, moving on does not mean to forget, but the step out of the past and accept what has happened. Grief does not mean drown yourself in alcohol or smoking to help rid the pain, because that will never make the pain go away, it just covers it up for a short amount of time. When bad things strike, its okay to cry, its okay to yell and shout and be upset EVEN FOR BOYS! Never try and hold something in, it will only make it worse, also talk to someone about it, call a friend, call a hotline if you want to, but don't ever isolate yourself and take it on alone.
My thoughts and prayers are with Greg and his family and friends. His funeral is tomorrow, and I hope I am able to attend.
with love, Arianna
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