Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Phrases like this and “carpe diem”, and “live everyday as if it were your last”, have also crept into modern society. But, do people really live like they are dying? Do we really seize the day? Are we really living each day as if it were our last? Are any of us really prepared to die? If you had 24 hours, one full day left on this earth, what would you do with it?

I’m fifteen, a sophomore in high school. For me, graduation seems like light years away. I can barely even process the idea of myself out of college and beginning the rest of life. Not to mention thinking about if I am ready to end it. A while ago, one of my friends was in a terrible car accident. She survived, but the other passenger sadly did not make it. For my friend, it was just another day. They were leaving school, just like any other weekday. No one was prepared for the outcome of the accident. For me personally, the news hit me like a ton of bricks. It rocked my world, I can’t even imagine for my friend and the other passengers involved. But, since that fateful September day, I’ve been thinking to myself, am I ready to go? Can you ever really be ready to go? If I knew today was my last day on earth, what would I do with it?

I don’t think anyone is ever really ready to go. But, I think you can be at peace with your situation. If you have had a terminal illness for a while, I think you can kind of prepare yourself, and try to put on a brave face. But, secretly, I think everyone is still shaking in their boots. Even if you have a strong faith, and you think you know what is on the other side, there are still questions about your family and friends. Will my baby sister ever get married? I wonder what my cousin, Brad, will grow up to be? How are my parents going to get through everything? There are so many impossible questions to answer. Death is funny like that, you can try to plan your whole life for it, but no one is ever really ready. But, death is just part of life, and we have to try to forget about it and live our lives. But the thought is always there, it’s that haunting thought in the back of your mind, that you can’t ever really put to rest. In a way, it’s the perpetual white elephant in the room; everyone knows its there, but no one likes to talk about it.

Lately though, I’ve been trying to imagine if I knew I was going tomorrow, with out a doubt, it was set in stone, there was nothing I could do about it, what would I do today? I tried to imagine what my friends and family would do, which was even harder. Would they try to pack everything they put off until tomorrow into one day? Would they try to complete all of their unfulfilled dreams and desires? Some people who go to church, just to make sure they had their “bases covered” when it came to the whole rotting in hell for eternity thing. Others would have their last hurrah! And maybe that quiet shy guy in the corner would finally work up the courage to ask out the girl of his dreams. After all, what does he have to loose anyway? But me, I think I would take it easy, maybe, fly down to the beach with close friends and family. I would dip my toes into the turquoise ocean and not let the rough sand bother me when it got in my hair. I hope, that I would enjoy the little things, like the smell of the salt air and the crashing noise that the waves make against the rocks at high tide. I know that if tomorrow was my last day, going to the beach with my friends and family would be my final wish. I know its hard to think about, and by thinking about it, we are finally acknowledging the white elephant in the room, who has been hidden underneath a layer of insecurity and fear, but here it goes. How would you want to spend your last day?