Don’t Take Life For Granted

Violence is inevitable. I know that. Especially living in New York, there isn’t going to be universal peace in all areas and neighborhoods. People argue. And unfortunately, people fight. But somehow, when you aren’t really exposed to that violence, you seem to forget that it exists.

In my life, although I’ve heard about crimes including mugging and murdering in my neighborhood, I never knew anyone that it happened to. And since I never had any first hand experience with it or knew anyone with these experiences, I never really thought about it. However, in the last four months, I’ve had one friend nearly stabbed to death a block away from my house in Sunset Park and another friend nearly shot to death in Flatbush. The stabbing occured in July while I was on vacation and when I heard about it, I couldn’t believe it. The victim was a life long family friend and a good kid. He was apparently jumped by four “thugs” and stabbed twice in the stomach. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and luckily was in stable condition, able to make a full recovery. There was no motive behind this attack. They simply did it just to do it as far as I know. Hearing about an act like this really makes you think about some people and what could possibly be going through their minds? What causes them to do these things? I will never understand it.

My friend that got shot is a little older than me. He played on my school’s football team but graduated a year before I got there. I saw him recently and he talked about how a few months ago, he got shot three times by a person who he’s known since he was a kid. They’ve lived on the same block they’re whole lives and they had gotten into an argument over something and the guy shot him. My friend spent a week in the hospital recovering and is okay now. But he said while he was in the hospital, he realized that an experience like this really puts things into perspective. One day you can be living care free but tomorrow is never a guarantee. He says he appreciates life so much more now and each day is a blessing.

I am writing this blog post for two reasons. The first is to show the different types people and lives’ in this world and just because we may not experience these situations, that doesn’t mean it’s not there. These things exist and happen everyday. The second reason I am writing this is to show how we should never take life for granted. Count your blessings and be grateful for them because things can always be worse. You never know what tomorrow will bring so be thankful for today.