July 11, 2004. The world doesn’t stop. It was everyday life. The same people went to work. The same people wept, celebrated, mourned, and cherished. The World Still Turns. And yet, it did stop. For a split second, unbeknownst to everyone else. An insignificant life was brought into this world. Just another child. Another face in the crowd. Over 365,000 people were born on that exact date. But what made this one different? What made any of them different? The clock had just started for the child, but wouldn’t that mean it had to stop for another?
July 11, 2006. The world doesn’t stop. Not for the driver who hit him, not for the father who lost his life, not for the kid whose whole life was altered. Reality hadn’t set in, but that didn’t mean the child didn’t know. Life had just thrown the biggest curveball in the world, and the kid went down swinging. Just another child. No father, no mother, just a sister. Two against a world. The odds, long. The doubt, high. The shadows, cast. What did they do to deserve a fate like this? The clock showed two numbers, a two and zeros after it. The World Still Turns.
July 11, 2009. The world doesn’t stop. Time moves faster as the child grows up, finds a home, and sees a world so foreign. A sister is all that reminds the child of a place once called home. An escape is what the two figures offered the pair, happily accepted by all. What did the future hold for the child that was growing up? Everything about the world was changing, but would they change with the world? New faces, new people, a whole new life. Seven months and it still didn’t feel like it would last. Nothing in the kid’s life seems to last but, The World Still Turns.
July 11, 2014. The world doesn’t stop. The clock hit fourteen digits. The world kept spinning. A decade of living, halfway there. How many decisions had been made that couldn’t be taken back? 10 years and change. Not for the kid, who’s quickly realizing there’s no time left to be a kid. Not for everyone around them, who doesn’t know their time with him is halfway over. How much can a kid really cherish those moments and know that there’s not much better out there? The World Still Turns. Night into day, day into night. Nothing in this life lasts, but still, The World Turns.
July 11, 2015. The world doesn’t stop. The kid has experienced losses before. A father dead, a mother gone, and a world ripped away from. Nothing could prepare him for what’s to come. The month of September will never really be the same for him. He wonders to himself, what could someone have against him to put him through this? Truly, he questions the world for the first time. What’s going through his mind? Is this where he started spiraling? Smile back and wave. As long as you look ok, they will always think you’re ok. It’s interesting, The World Still Turns.
July 11, 2017. The world doesn’t stop. He sits there, oblivious to what awaits him. Nothing could prepare someone for the trials of the kid’s future. At thirteen, he will have seen things that no one should see in a hundred years of living. There’s enough for the child to write thousands of pages about. Fate is a cruel mistress, shrouded by a sense of hope for a distant and bright future. He’s yet to realize that. High school awaits. It’s unsettling what he could experience, what’s on the other side of those steel green doors. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. The World Still Turns.
July 11, 2020. The world doesn’t stop. He doesn’t know that in a couple months time, another column would fall. He thinks he still has time to say what he wants to say. It will be better than last time when there was no goodbye, no last words, no last embrace. But maybe it’s actually worse. Life is taken from you in the cruelest of ways. Joy, snuffed out like a flame that’s run out of oxygen. But it’s his sixteenth birthday. A driver’s license in his name, a new sense of freedom, and a life that still seems unreal. Beep. Beep. Beep. Bee. Be. B. The World Still Turns.
July 11, 2021. The world doesn’t stop. College is on the horizon and all the kid’s dreams suddenly seem within reach. What could go wrong? Life seemed different, the clock had started to speed up. Almost as if it sensed that this particular story’s end was coming faster than it had planned. If you could see that smile then you would know why no one saw it coming. The mask that he wore was foolproof, a work of art, designed by the best. I should’ve seen it coming, nothing that bright is ever real. Nothing that great ever comes without its flaws. The World Still Turns.
July 11, 2022. The world doesn’t stop. Failure. The act of not achieving what your abilities should allow you to. So this was what it felt like. He had been the best for so long, only to crumble to pieces. This is where the spiral took form. A realization that there were better. Recovery was an option. There was still time ticking on his clock. He was walking a path towards a cliff’s edge. How fitting right, the full circle moments as time starts to become irrelevant. Or is it that time just starts to seem like it has less of an effect on our decisions? But what do I know, The World Still Turns.
July 11, 2023. The world doesn’t stop. The clock looks different. Gone is the counting of time spent living, instead replaced by a timer, one that is getting awfully close to the end. What does it mean for the life we’ve observed? Nineteen years, yet the clock shows one left and some change. The light that was behind his eyes has long since been extinguished. Even the smile forged and perfected, no longer truly masking his face. Cracks in Mr. Perfect. A small, barely noticeable, chink in the armor. The finish line looked closer and closer. The World Still Turns.
July 11, 2024. The world stops. Just for a moment, all is fine. A table full of friendly faces, a life that feels fulfilled, and a life that maybe is worth living out. I could tell you this story has a happy ending. I could say I chose to write the next chapter. July 11, 2025. But my clock seems to run out before then. I was given most everything in my life. Almost as if I was being repaid for something. But as my time comes to a close, there are a few things I’ve learned. Keep your friends close and your family ever closer. Never think a glance can tell the whole story. And live life like the world is frozen in place. So, just for this moment, The World Still Turns.
July 11, 2025. The world stopped turning a while ago.
