CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – The deaths of two D.C. Everest students, Emily Lewerenz, a senior, and Danny Johnson, a junior, are hard to process. You’d think they had their whole lives in front of them, and, in the blink of an eye, they were gone.
I’ve broadcast D.C. Everest sporting events for the past 12 years, so I know almost all of the student-athletes. I am also a supporter of the Everest drama program. I didn’t realize until yesterday that I saw Emily perform during the last dress rehearsal of Chicago. She died four days before graduation, and was going to be the Class of 2023’s valedictorian.
Ironically, the day before my graduation from Andrew Warde High School in Connecticut (Class of ‘87), two of my classmates died in a car crash. The circumstances were different. They’d been drinking, and paid for their foolishness with their lives. I did not know them well. I remember that our graduation, which was supposed to be a celebration, had turned into something somber.
Tonight is the parade of graduates at D.C. Everest Senior High School. The loss of Emily and Danny changes the context of what happens tonight. Graduations look to the future, and the cruel twist tonight is that the future is not promised to anyone. Perhaps that’s the bitter life lesson. If given a choice between “today” and “tomorrow,” pick today – always. Today you have choices to make about what you’ll do and how you’ll interact with others. The things you leave for later could vanish in a moment.
My message to the Everest graduates is this: If today is your last day, would you have done enough to be satisfied with time you had. If ‘no,’ begin living your life for today. Sometimes there is no tomorrow.
Chris Conley
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