Fallen Soldiers Pt. 1

In life we are guaranteed only one thing...death. If you have a beginning you must have an end. The crazy thing is most of us don't know when that end will be. Some of us live long past our expiration date and others don't live long enough to ripen. This is the punchline of the twisted joke called life. Whatever your religious preference you have some understanding of death or some kind of justification for things in order to explain life's complexities. The more unfair the situation , the greater the need for justification.

I attended a funeral a few days ago which was as always an event for mourning and closure. There were tears  shed, songs sang, God praised, and a body placed in the ground. I, however, did not shed tears , and you may ask why. I have what some might label a weird perception of death. I am not scared of my own for one and I know that those who die are removed from the pain and suffering of this world. To all who have passed just know it is not "Goodbye" it is simply "See you later". The day people understand this, mourning will be cut short. The shorter we mourn the quicker we get back to our lives and live with  purpose in order to make the deceased proud. I don`t live for myself, I live to conquer and achieve my dreams and the dreams of those  not able to address theirs. Many in my circle who have passed never attained their true potential. The mini successes observed were a mere scratch on the surface of what they may have attained if father time were more generous.

Back to the importance of this funeral I attended, it was the funeral of a young man I once knew. An athlete who treated his body as a temple and treated people as teammates. A straight-card with nothing to lose and all to gain. In his case, time was cut short. He had numerous achievements under his belt, but I feel personally there was so much more he could conquer. The most confusing part about it is, it was a drunk driving incident. My question is how does a man who doesn't drink die in a drunk driving incident. I can answer that. Our actions in life affect more people than we think. This young man never drank but got hit by a drunken driver. That's like people who die of secondhand smoke but never picked up a cigarette. It's completely unfair but understandable.  All I can say is, it may have been an accident and accidents happen but......we can do things to lower the chances. If you knew or were fortunate enough to be an acquaintance of Roberto then you knew he was a good person. Yes, they say the good die young but that does not always have to be the case. I personally have analyzed this situation and learned an important lesson from it as should all of you. Drinking and driving don't mix ever. We all know this but do we really understand and live it. I don't drink and drive but you better believe my one beer or one drink only if I'm driving policy, coupled with my need to make it home policy have changed to an absolute no tolerance policy. I know the law says as long as you blow below a 0.08 you're fine but if you have any direct connection to this young man you will aim for a 0.000.

Show care and respect and think outside yourself. Not because I told you to but because its the right thing to do. Do it for Roberto Armenteros. This isnt a message from MADD(mothers against drunk driving) this is a heart to heart I'm having with you. If we live carelessly the consequences are unimaginable. So we here at LYMLife have taken up this no tolerance policy on drinking and driving regardless of what our laws say. We hope you will too. And to Roberto Armenteros, we salute you on your LYMLife and all you acheived in your short time. To the rest of you, remember don't drink and drive you might spare a life.