As much of a promise death is, it is always a shock to hear about it when it arrives not too far away from you. Just last night I learned about the sudden death/accident of a girl on the local music scene that my band and I would see at certain events and local gigs. She was the singer of a metal band here in town. My band once played a show with them at one point. I talked to her here and there, she was very nice (not just saying that as a cliche to her death, she really was nice) and I'm certain there is a photo of her and I on someone's hard drive. However, while I didn't know her well enough for tears to develop, the news was still a shock and the most completely unexpected thing for me to hear. I can't imagine what her family must be going through. She had a husband and children as well, and my heart completely goes out to them all. The unexpected deaths will forever be the most unfair. When someone is sick or very old age, the family and friends have more of a chance to "prepare" for the death process. Even though it's still a sad thing nonetheless, the family has to be realistic and brace themselves per se, of this difficult fact of life. But when the unexpected deaths happen, no one has a chance to prepare. It hits everyone like a freight train thus leading to the shock. While death slowly eats away the ill or elderly, it quickly takes the "accidentals" as if it needs to reach a daily quota of lives to end. That I believe, is what makes others question life. "Out of all the people in the world WHY HIM/HER?!", they will wonder. All of this made me wonder: When we hear of such sad and abrupt news, is it the actual death that "shocks" us? Or are we really shocked by the realization that death can take us or our loved ones at random? It's news like this that sort of brings us back to reality. Not only is death inevitable, but it is capable of striking us at random as well. For me, it brings out the realistic, yet frightening side of the unpredictability of life. Death is a guarantee, but tomorrow may never come. -Candace