Briefly: Death of teens is reminder how quickly life can be snuffed out

I had another reminder this afternoon how fleeting life can be. When I got to my office Tuesday afternoon after lunch, police had blocked the street off for about a block. It turns out that two teen-agers — a male and a female — drove past our office at about 12:30 and then failed to make the turn at the top of Shades Mountain about a block from us where the road dead-ends into Shades Crest Road. Their SUV went over the top of the mountain and ended up about 150 yards below. Both were dead before rescue workers got to them (and the vehicle was recovered later in the afternoon). It’s just another routine accident, but since it happened right at my office, there’s something powerful to me about knowing these two teens were alive and probably happy just six hours ago. We’re in denial when we put off the lives we need to be living.