People die every day. There’s nothing unusual about that. But this time, it really hit me hard. On Wednesday December 4, 16-year-old Alyssa Ettl was in a terrible collision that suddenly ended her life.

I hear about people dying everyday, so what made this one any different? Hearing about the accident made feelings flood through me that I never knew I could feel about someone I didn’t even know.

In times of devastation people often times feel compassion. Maybe it was the fact that she was my age. Maybe it was the fact that she was simply driving to school like every other day, but hearing about this doleful event made my heart sink.

I couldn’t help but ask myself “what if it had been me?”, a question that we so often ask ourselves upon hearing about a tragedy. The only difference was that it could’ve just as easily been me.

I believe that in times of devastation people find a compassion in themselves that they would not normally have. When a natural disaster hits or a tragic death occurs, without even thinking twice, communities come together to help those who they have never met.

Although we were living in two separate worlds, I felt a connection to Ettl. In that moment I realized how valuable life truly is. We need to relish the moments that are so often taken for granted and hold on to the memories we make each day.