Inspiring

Don't you love when something comes out of the blue and smacks you over the head? Changes your perspective on life?

This something had me bawling to myself at 2 in the morning. Intrigued? Keep reading.

Two nights ago, I was lying in bed checking a few more posts on Twitter before getting some sleep. (For the record, I created a Twitter with the sole purpose of reading about celebrities with more interesting, entertaining lives than my own. I'm acutely aware that no one cares about what kind of salad I had for lunch.)

Anyway, a random tweet caught my eye. I casually clicked a link and found myself immersed in a video for 20 minutes, frozen in place and crying harder than I have in a long time. It was the story of a boy named Zach. At 17, he was diagnosed with bone cancer. After months and months of chemo, radiation, pills, and surgeries, he was told the cancer had spread to his lungs and pelvis and he had only a few months left to live.

So Zach chose to stop all treatment and return home to spend his last days with the people he loves. He and his family came to accept his imminent death in the most beautiful, peaceful way. He even had a girlfriend who knew he was terminal when they started dating and she saw him through everything anyway.

Sadly he passed away two days ago, but the song he wrote for his family? #1 on iTunes. WHAT?! Not #20, not #5... The most downloaded song, blowing past hundreds of famous musicians and artists. That's amazing. Here are the thoughts I've been ruminating on since watching this incredible story (four or five times).

1. What a beautiful example of positivity, empathy and human connection that people would buy this amateur song, be moved by this guy's story, share it with others, and make it #1 on iTunes. I love when the bond that connects all of us peeks through the everyday sensationalism of the media.

2. What an incredibly beautiful human being this guy was. Always a smile on his face, boasting a motto of "Just make others happy". He managed to change the future plans that he had naturally created for himself (college, then marriage and kids with his equally amazing girlfriend) and accept the imminence of his death as another part of life. "It's only scary because you don't know what's coming next... or if there is a next. It's like sitting in the dark. You can be there freaking out about what's out there or you can just close your eyes and fall asleep."

3. I appreciate so much the opportunity to have my life put in perspective. It's like being recalibrated. Here I am, worrying about my goals and why I haven't reached them and what my future holds. And there Zach is, knowing he has no future and choosing to live every minute to the fullest. It's like going from the upper echelon of society to abject poverty and quickly learning the true value of a dollar. Others in his position may never learn it. They may spend the last part of their unfairly truncated life wallowing in self pity and cursing their fate. Not to say that these aren't natural reactions or that those people aren't just trying to cope and weave their own confusing path to acceptance, but hats off to Zach. Only 17 and living his life more fully than the majority of the healthy people around him.

Here's the doc. It's well worth watching. Below that is the music video where celebs sang his song for him.