You only realize the value of what you have when you lose it or are on the verge of losing it.
The painful lesson does teach us a lot.
Sometimes, if we are lucky enough, we get a second chance to appraise what and who is important to us. You get to know what you value the most when the world seems dark.
Siblings are the backbone of our growth as kids. They are our best allies. Once we get into school and start doing other stuff, our interests, age, and freedom separate us.
Two brothers, Sam and Mathew Zief, were students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida. The 18-year-old Sam was in the senior year while the 14-year-old was a freshman.
Having spent 3 years on campus alone, Sam was more connected to his friends than his brother. He was quite optimistic about his future. On Valentine’s Day, Sam had finished his math test when a series of gunshots were heard. A fire alarm followed the gunshots. On receiving instructions from their teacher, they started looking for places to hide instead of going out towards the hall.
Sam was aware that his little brother was on the 3rd floor. He was quite apprehensive of the state in which his brother might be. Just then, Sam sent a text to Mathew.
Gunshots were not heard on the third floor, and most of them were unaware of the situation. They started evacuating the classrooms in response to the fire alarm.
Mathew and his classmates were already outside the classroom when they realized the gravity of the situation. Scott Biegel, their geography teacher, did his best to get the students back to the room.
Mathew is believed to be the last student that Scott saved before he was shot dead by the disturbed gunman. For a good amount of time, Mathew and his classmates were staring directly at the man who shot their teacher.
In reply to Sam’s text, Mathew wrote asking about the position of cops and also telling that his teacher died and the shooter was sitting in the doorway. Sam felt helpless, and all he could muster was a text in which he expressed his love for his younger brother and promised that they would get out of the situation alive – although even Sam knew that it might end the other way.
By the grace of God, the brothers came out alive from the situation. Sam posted on Twitter that he felt really scared about the fact that his younger brother was in the same building and he didn’t know if he would see his brother alive again. Sam felt alive when he saw he little brother outside the school and made a sigh of relief.
Before this incident, Sam and his brother weren’t that close, but a single situation can turn everything. Sam realized the fact that when his brother’s life was at stake, he really felt like losing a part of his life. He never really appreciated his little brother before this.
This had never crossed Sam’s mind that a situation like this could happen. Well, all you need to worry about in school is passing the next exam, but this was something entirely different.
While Sam’s little brother came out alive, his best friend lost his life the same day. Sam and Mathew have been getting therapy since this incident.
Every cloud has a silver lining, and this darkest day brought the brothers closer than they were ever before. But the fact that 17 innocent people lost their lives creates an alarm that needs to be addressed soon. We must value the heroic school staff who sacrificed their lives to save the children.
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