Today, I have decided that I will start living. I will live for those who did not see the light today, for those who lie sick in their hospital beds, and for those who only choose to exist.

I was seventeen when I watched a fourteen year old die, yards away from me. I watched him die along with hundreds of other people. It was supposed to be a day of happiness, joy, and peace and little did I know that I would witness a boy die that afternoon.

My heart broke into a million pieces over a dead boy who I did not know but I could not help but to feel pain, to feel the dreading feeling that he would not come back to life again. I watched a man perform CPR on him for several minutes, pumping his chest, lifting his head and blowing air into his lungs over and over and over again until they realized it was no use. They even tried to restart his heart by shocking him and yet he still laid on the sand motionless.

My mom found me in the crowd of people. She had tears in her eyes. She had saw the boy being pulled out of the water and brought back to shore. She had told us his body was yellow and once they took off the oxygen mask, blood spilled out of his nose. She was horrified at what she saw.

I watched the men take the boy back to the ambulance, trying to get past the crowd and hiding the sadness that was in their eyes that the boy would no longer live another day.

I went back to my spot by the lake, pondering over everything I had saw and wondering if that would be me anytime soon. I was lost in thought for the rest of the afternoon wondering over the boy's life and his death. His death had such an impact on my life and made me realize death is all around us.

Death will never warn you when she comes for you. She's like a thief at night, waiting for the right moment to steal your last breath.

Today I have decided I will begin to truly live, to fully appreciate every second of my life. There's a famous movie I've watched, Titanic. Jack made a speech to all the rich people and talked about how life is a gift and he didn't want to waste it. Life is precious, it's a gift that can be so glorious if you don't waste it doing pointless stuff. Today is the day when we can change things. Yesterday is the past and the future is too far ahead of us but right now is the time to do whatever the hell we want.

Live your life today, truly live it. If you are in love with someone and haven't confessed it to them, today is the day to do it. If you're holding a grudge against someone for something that happened a long time ago, forgive them before it's too late. If you want to do something that you're passionate about, do it today, you have nothing to lose. Today is the day to live your life to the fullest and leave a mark, to leave a legacy. Life is a gift, make yours count.