While I was away on break, tragedy struck my hometown. It is your age-old story of teenage drinking: someone was holding an underage party and the cops were called. Everyone ran, and one, poor girl made the mistake of running into the road, and was promptly hit by a car. She was pronounced dead an hour later. She was 15.
I didn’t know her at all. And when I found out her name I immediately took to Facebook to piece together a picture of who this girl was in my mind. As I went through her pictures the story became too real. She was an aspiring ballerina at the best company in town. She had a strong group of girlfriends and a reputation as a good, smart girl, destined to follow in her sister’s footsteps to an Ivy League school. But all of that was ended suddenly.
As teenagers and young adults, we see ourselves as invincible, no evil can hurt us. However, when we least expect it, our luck can take a turn for the worst. We are all so incredibly lucky to go to a school like Hamilton. Even here, in our little bubble on the Hill, we must remember that we are not safe from the evils of misjudgment. We must take a moment to thank the wonderful group of students who sacrifice their time to serve as EMTs and help us out during times of great need. We also must thank our friends and even our acquaintances who keep an eye out for us on all those weekend nights. I can’t tell you the number of times I have snuck a drink away from a friend, knowing that just one more would send them over the edge. Although they might have given me a hard time in the moment, the next morning they would thank me. The Hamilton community looks out for each other—no one wants their suite-mates, across the hall buddies or even that random kid who sits in the back row of their biology class to get sick, hurt or worse. So thank you, fellow Hamiltonians for keeping those watchful eyes open, for life is too precious to be ruined by a single, tragic decision—every individual here is what makes this school so wonderful.