History before us.

I want to travel.
I want to visit places that I've read about all my life.
Real, historical places where these events took place.
I want to see where these people walked, lived, breathed, existed.
I want to walk the streets where Jesus walked.
See the garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of olives, Calvary...
I want to see the annex Anne Frank and her family hid in for years.
The window she so longingly gazed out of when she was allowed.
I want to go down in a submarine and see the Titanic on the ocean floor.
The final resting place for so many people, the signs of life, the vast ship they were enjoying traveling on.
I want to see the concentration camps where so many lives were abused and taken.
I want to visit Columbine High School.
See the graves of Rachel Scott and Cassie Bernall.
Really grasp what their lives stood for.
I want to see the 9/11 Memorial.
Bring to life that moment I watched helplessly on a screen while writing what I felt in my journal.
Learning new vocabulary such as "Hijack," "Terrorist," and "Skyline."

I want to make it all real to me.
I want to remember.
I want to reflect.
I want to experience what remains of these places.

This all really happened.
These were real people
Flesh and bone, just like you and me.
Seemingly normal one day, such an important part of history the next.

I want to revisit Rome.
Take in all the Colosseum encompasses again.
Take the tour, soak in every word, relish in the stories.

I want to take pictures.
Record the wonder of these locations.
Keep my mind wide open to what history can teach us about present reality.
Realize that just how these people were normal one moment, that I'm never certain of what my next one will hold.
I want to live my life with that in mind.
Live it well, so if today is all I'm remembered for, that it'll be worth remembering.
That it won't be a legacy to look back on in shame.

I want to make every moment count.
You never know how many there are left.
Or which one holds the events that change life as you know it.

I want to remain strong.
To face whatever these moments hold head-on, fearless.
To fight when all else seems lost.
To believe when there's no hope left.
To stand when everything around me falls.

I won't let the bad things that come against me define me.
They may affect me, but they'll never define me.