The death of Carrie Largent was a shock to us all. Carrie was an incredible person, and a great friend, whose memories I will cherish forever. I extend my utmost condolences to her amazing family and friends.
But let us dispense with the ubiquitous effervescence of description depicting the wonderfulness of our dearest Carrie and return to this initial shock and the questions proliferating from it. There are no easy explanations; as the priest said in his eulogy, sometimes it is best not to search for understanding, as the 'reasons,' if it is even accurate to call them 'reasons,' are above and beyond us.
Here was a beautiful girl with a perfect family, a million caring friends, a brilliant mind, a caring heart, attending a prestigious medical school.
Perhaps we are thankful for and see value in the wrong things.
Instead of appreciating our families, friends, intellects and the countless other trivialities we seek comfort and even find pride in, might we ought instead to be grateful for our very consciousness, the gloriousness of our everyday experiences? To see the blue in the sky, to feel the sun on the skin, even to succumb to the radiant flash from Carrie's smile as she lit up the room.
How do we experience life, the very act of living? The fundamental conscious experience, the perception of being itself, is both the most important aspect of our lives and the hardest to shift.
Carrie should know; she certainly tried her hardest to move the immovable. And she wasn't even alone. She had some of the best psychiatric and psychological help available and the unwavering support of the many, many close to her who loved her.
In the end it wasn't enough because nothing could be enough. One can only do so much, one can only help so much, one can only be there so many times before the perfect storm strikes. In the end, and only in retrospect, all that could be done was done, and more.
However, the absence of satisfactory answers to our questions may provide wisdom in their silence. Listening carefully, we might discover the positive lessons Carrie would surely want to leave with us: Help a neighbor, say a kind word to a stranger and attempt to empathize with the feelings and actions of others. And, most importantly, enjoy our own lives to the fullest with the utmost humbleness, gratefulness and amazement.
Editor's note: Travis Snyder, the author of this remembrance essay, is a first year medical student attending Touro University Nevada School of Osteopathic Medicine. He was a close friend of Carrie Largent's and of the Largent family.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.