I came from a large high school, with a graduating class of about 720. But now that number is a little less.

I have been fairly fortunate to not have death and people dying in my family for the majority of my life. Unfortunately, that recently has changed quickly.

The saying goes that people die in threes. It couldn’t be closer to the truth now.

Three guys, all of which I knew somewhat well to really well, died in a five week time frame.

Some readers may remember me writing about my first friend, Matt, who died of cancer. The second friend died two weeks later and it was a drinking related incident. The last guy I knew since third grade. He killed himself on Sunday night.

Honestly, I thought he was annoying, but now his antics don’t seem all that bad, knowing that I won’t hear him say, “Hey Colin, pull my finger,” then rolling down the window to yell “hoochies” to unsuspecting high school girls. That’s the kind of bizarre humor Jack had.

Even though I didn’t talk to him often after graduation, his death affected me very hard because it was his choice, the other two were not their choices.

According to a friend close to him, they did not assume that he was unhappy. He had lost his job due to multiple alcohol related incidents, but he was going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and was straightening out his life. It appeared that Jack had a plan for his life. But I guess not.

It bothers me more that he felt useless to others here. He was part of a large family, 10 brothers and sisters, had a steady girlfriend and was looking for a job in paramedics. Paramedics. How can saving peoples lives be considered useless? That’s the farthest profession from being useless.

Suicide has been harder; it makes me feel useless in others lives. It’s really frustrating to feel helpless and useless to other people.

Jack always had a smile on his face, mostly laughing at his own jokes at your expense. It didn’t seem like anything ever got to him; he had the toughest shell. He would make fun of himself if it would get him a slight chuckle. No matter what, you couldn’t break that shell. In the end, Jack had an extremely fragile shell.

Some lyrics from the band Walls of Jericho that are helping me through this hard time are: “It’s time to overcome and leave the past behind. Dream like you’ll live forever, live like you’ll die tomorrow. It’s time for change, don’t let life burn away. Leave your past behind regret is needless pain. Dream like you’ll live forever, live like you’ll die tomorrow.”

Time travels by and we worry about class, jobs and our lives. You are only on this planet once. Worry about your friends. Concern yourself with what will make you happy. You won’t find happiness in money and jobs that will suck away all your time and effort. Don’t get sucked into a 9-5 job for peanuts that won’t leave you happy when you go to bed at night.