My Life: The Curse of Death

I had originally planned on making this a video, in the style of Draw My Life, but I found that I really don't like listening to my own voice. So here's the script instead:

What I'm about to tell you is true. A true story from my own life. The story of how I had...

THE CURSE OF DEATH!

Several years ago when I had just graduated from Hell...I mean, High School, I began my first semester of Junior College. Granted, I had taken a few classes at said college during Hell - I mean High School - but this was the first time as an official College Freshman.

So, there I was, on the first day of class, my first day as a college student, listening to a professor teach a history class that was apparently so boring that I can't remember what the subject even was. Anyways, it was a summer class so the class was something like two hours long. The first half went fine, but during the second half, the Professor said “Eh, I feel tired, I'm going to sit down.” So he goes to sit down in his chair, and he misses, falling on to the floor. Now this is a classical example of physical comedy, so of course we all laughed. But...only for about half a second, as we soon realized he wasn't getting back up. Or moving.

A few people up front went to help him, and someone else ran outside to get the campus emergency staff. I just stood there at my seat. I told myself that there were plenty of people already there helping him, but, truthfully, I think was just a little too scared to help.

But, soon some emergency staff came to help him and told everyone to go on home. So I did. How's that for a first day of college? So naturally we all showed up the next day wondering how he was doing. A substitute teacher came to teach the class that day, along with some school staff to inform us that...he died on the way to the hospital.

When I got home after that class that day I told my mom about it, and she informed me that it's possible he actually died right there in class, but they told us otherwise to keep us from freaking out. I don't know if that's true or not, but it's definitely crazy to think about.

The late professor appeared in a local news article a few days later. It said he had high blood pressure. So he died in some way related to that. I don't remember exactly.

Now of course this story alone is crazy enough, but it doesn't stop there. You see, a few years later I transferred to a university. Moved into a nice dorm, with a bedroom window facing the road that had this weird crosswalk in the middle of the road where you had to grab an orange flag as you walked across so other drivers would see you.

Anyways, so there I was, my first day of class, my first day as a university student, and...well, no one died in the middle of class, so, that was good. At the end of the day, I went home, sat down in my bedroom, and began to work on my homework. As I did so, it sounded like someone outside slammed on the brakes, followed by a small bump. I went to the window, assuming that a car had merely made a fender bender with another car. As I looked outside, however, I was shocked to see a car, a bicycle, and a girl, laying in the road...not moving. There were some people who rushed over to help her, and once again, I didn't do anything because I figured there were already people helping and that I would just get in the way.

What makes this event even more sad is that this girl lived in the same ward as me. This is a girl that I could have potentially met and become friends with.

This, however, seemed all too strange, too much to be a coincidence. It was then I came to the realization that I...was cursed! Cursed that on the first day of classes at a new college someone spatially close to me...will die! This very curse would in fact be a factor in my decision in which graduate school to attend. I mean, come on, I don't want someone else to die. Sadly, my application for graduate school at the university I was already attending...was denied. And so I was forced to choose another school.

And so, once again, I attended my first day of classes at a new university on my first day as a grad student, and...no one died! The curse was broken!

In all seriousness, though, I don't believe I was actually cursed. And please forgive me if I in any way disrespected the tragic deaths of these two people. It's a very hard thing to see someone close to you die, but in case there are anyone out there grieving over such a loss, I just want you to know that death isn't the end. There is a life beyond what we can see here in mortality. As Job asked, "If a man die, shall he live again?"

Yes. Yes he shall.