Goodbye!

I can't wait to get out of this town. Sure, I love it here. But there's thousands of other places to explore. I can't for the life of me understand how some people stay here their entire lives. Everything is just so similar. And small. Then I think about all of the people who will be coming back here after college, and that makes me sad. Because I probably won't ever see them again. They have to come back to take over their parents' businesses. They don't realize that they can make their own way, wherever they want. The world is so large, yet we all seem to be confined to such small areas. I think it's because we hold ourselves back. All I know is that I'm jumping at the first chance to leave. The first chance to explore.

Chances

Has it ever occurred to you that you could change your life right now? You could stand up in the middle of class and yell at your teacher. You could buy a plane ticket to California. You could place yourself in the way of death. You could do anything. We simply do not do these things because of the consequences that follow them. But sometimes, it's worth the risk. Sometimes, we overlook trying something new because of what might happen. If our lives are as bad as we say they are, we would be taking these chances.

Irreversible

Honestly, the Boston bombing really freaked me out today. I was sitting on the track, my giraffe legs splayed over the red rubber, when one of my coaches said he had an announcement. He had just received a text message from our head coach, saying that he was okay. OK from what? OK from the two bombs that had detonated at the finish line of a 22 mile marathon in Boston that he was attending. In the time I had been running my 15 minute warm-up, two people had died and a couple dozen innocent bystanders had been seriously injured from an explosion that should never have happened.

My teammates were shocked for a total of five minutes. After awhile, everyone returned to talking about what they were wearing to prom, how much our workout sucked, and how everyone wanted it to be warmer. 

We're all getting numb to these things.

What else can you expect? With bombings or shootings plastered all over the news every other month, people will begin to overlook it. Sure, it's news, people are big on spreading awareness, but nothing is changing. We act too late, giving aid after a tragedy occurs instead of working to prevent it.

I guess what struck me the most was the fact that there is no known reason why this happened. It doesn't seem like a group of terrorists who are trying to get a point across, this seems like a random act of destruction. Which makes me feel like it could happen anywhere. What if that was my race? What if when I was crossing the finish line, bombs began exploding around me? What if one moment I was cheering on my teammates, and the next moment I was gone?

I just find it interesting how much our society depends on all of us to follow the guidelines and rules that they set out for us. And that it only takes one person to cause chaos, to which no one else knows how to respond to.