YOLO.

You Only Live Once.

So let’s Live While We’re Young, and go crazy. Let’s party and smoke and drink and who care’s because YOLO.

Everyday I will see someone do something stupid and defend himself with the excuse “YOLO,” like he’s saying “Who cares if I do something stupid and die now, I’m going to die anyways.”

Unfortunately, on Friday, December 14, everyone in America was reminded of the stark reality that you really do only live once, when gunman Adam Lanza broke into Sandy Hook elementary school and killed 20 children and six adults.

The casualties of Friday’s shooting make this worse than the infamous Columbine shooting, a feat I hoped would never be performed.

These children did not deserve to have their one lifetime cut so short. Their only chance to make a difference in the world, their one shot at finding love and living life, was taken from them too soon.

I’m afraid that too many people today are taking their lifetimes for granted, and I’m afraid that I am guilty of this as well.

Ironically, in all of this chanting of “YOLO,” we have forgotten how true this statement is. You really do only live once. So what are you going to do to make the most of the time you’re given?

I know that, for me at least, the tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary School is a reminder of what I should be doing with my life, especially with the Christmas and Holiday season. Hopefully this will be a catalyst in my life to do good, and I have made a goal for myself to be a more kind and serving person, to be a better friend, and to stop my incessant worrying and actually live my life in a way for those that no longer have the chance.

I am going to remember as many of the names as I can, and learn from Victoria Soto (27) and Dawn Hochsprung (47) and put others first, no matter the cost. I am going to be more like Olivia Engel (6) and have it be said of me that my only crime is being happy. I want to be like Emilie Parker (6), and have people notice that I am quick to put a smile on someone else’s face.

I have decided that I will not focus on the situation as an example of how dark the world has become. I will not glorify the killer and make his face and his crime what I remember in years to come.

Instead I will remember the goodness, although there seems to be nothing good at all. I will remember the sacrifice of the adults who risked their lives for their students, and I will remember the smiles of the children I never had the chance to meet, the smiles of the children who never had the chance to grow up. I will glorify them and and their families who now have a long road of recovery ahead of them, and better myself so that I can make the world a little bit better.