Motivations Leading to Change

There have been so many deaths lately. It's like the world has decided it needs to rid itself of people, but in doing so, it has chosen the able, the amazing, and the valuable. Death has no morals, no favorites. He plucks you from your life and, Bam, you're nothing but a memory. Well, lately these "memories" are more, they have meaning, a purpose. Maybe Death took these people now so that they could be a message to the world? Or this could just be the way I see it..the way that makes sense to me on why so many wonderful people are dying. 



Recently the death of Sarah Jones struck the heart of the Entertainment Industry. I know that many people have written about her, who she was and what she meant to them, but to me, she is "a change." I didn't know her personally, I'd never met her or anyone that knew her, but her death, though truly tragic, has caused a welcome shift in my line of work. I'm one of the many below-the-line lemmings that blindly follows what my superiors says. And although I know that most of what I work on is safe, I know a bunch of what I do, and what I ask my crew to do, is rather "unsafe". But the "buck" wins out in the end and everyone needs green to survive in this world. We keep our mouths shuts to keep a roof over our heads. 



So, in saying this, Sarah's death was horrible and saddening, but what she now stands for in the TV world is very important. She will forever be a reminder to all the bureaucrats, penny pushers, and jerks that take advantage of us lowly workers that we matter. She will make the upper hands think twice, or at least pause for a second, on making that decision on whether or not to use a stunt man, hire security, look out for the best interests of everyone, not just their pockets. When Sarah died, the Industry mourned, banned together, and from this, the business I work in will be safer and stronger.



Another young death is that of Marina Keegan. She was a recent graduate of Yale University. I just read her essay, "The Opposite of Loneliness" and it made me stop and ponder. Marina talks about gradutaing school and setting out into the big, wide world. Some people will shudder at the daunting task of living a life that you must make on your own - no one is there to hold your hand and guide you. You're now a grown up and must accomplish your goals. But in saying this, Marina struck a cord with me on her line, "We’re so young. We’re so young. We’re twenty-two years old. We have so much time." She didn't have so much time. She died shortly after finishing this essay. But to her, when writing the above words, she had all the time in the world. In her essay, she expresses what she plans to do at 30-years-old, at 50. Her life, the possibilities were endless...until they were no more. 

I'm not trying to sound harsh. It just made me extremely sad that someone with such promise and an inspirational outlook on her life ahead, didn't get to live her imagined dreams. But she left behind amazing, uplifting, and thoughtful gems of personal knowledge and a guide to help others better their lives. She will influence so many people, making this world a brighter place. Maybe making the world that she saw for her own future.



I feel that everyone grows up wanting to be someone, be something important. Whether they want to be famous or just inspire their friends, they want to feel loved and belong...to matter. Sarah and Marina had the whole world ahead of them, but then it was taken away in an instant. They don't know it, but their deaths are the catalyst for change across the world: Sarah will help people be safer and Marina will inspire a whole new generation of thinkers. Even if when they were alive, they never believed they would change a person's life, they are now. Their deaths they will help save lives and so their short existence's mattered.

So, maybe Death does have a plan for all of us. Maybe we live our lives believing that what we do while living is what will leave the biggest impact on the people we encounter, but what if that isn't true? 

Maybe we are meant to die for a reason. Maybe there is no such thing as senseless death, because in the aftermath, change is possible and these two women's deaths have sparked a transformation around the world. We all matter, in life, and in death. Sometimes we just need blind faith to accept that. We're more than memories, we're stories waiting to be written and motivations leading to change.