A life cut short vs. A life well lived.

I have driven by two roadside memorials in the past months that have caused me to stop. Both were tragic deaths involving speeding cars. Both victims were in their twenties. But the difference between them was striking. The first was a shrine to a life of self pursuit. The victim's friends left pictures of drunkeness, talked about their great memories of getting drunk together, and littered the based of the memorial with empty bottles of their favorite beer. They littered their notes with expletives and spoke of partying together again one day. I didn't know the young man they toasted but I felt deeply sorry for him. What a wasted life. He died before anyone had the opportunity to point him in the right direction. The best way he will be remembered is as an out of control party animal. If the media covered anything beyond the accident it would have focused on the danger of drunk driving or the tragedy of a life cut short so early.

The other memorial belonged to a man similar in age but entirely different in life pursuit. In his short twenty-five years he had lived to serve other people. He had volunteered his time to serve people in Rwanda, invested numerous hours into helping friends, fed the poor, and committed his life to a cause greater than himself. The press who covered the accident were intrigued by his story and so they told it. What this man stood for was written about in the papers and talked about on news programs. Unlike the first case, there was no angle: a story on the growing number of cyclists hit by cars, the danger of elderly drivers, or the need for better road signs. The story was a life well lived instead of a life cut short. And the media had every reason to tell that story.