My family friend and I have had a bond since birth. We played video games, played sports, and talked about what our siblings did. We even referred to each other as cousins because we basically were. The bond between us was great when we told each other everything. We also had the same outlook on life and that was that life's long dreadful journey should be calmly and precautiously tiptoed through. 

One day I was doing my own thing sitting in my chair playing video games when my mom entered my room with a hollow expression on her face. I knew it was bad. I was 11 at the time, yet she thought I should know she said he got cancer and that they were looking into treatment options. I was stunned, my child's brain couldn’t comprehend so I shrugged it off as a normal flu, but as the month came to an end so did my small comprehension of the subject.

The brain is like a baby: what you feed and tell it will become its nature. My whole life with friends, family, and strangers all telling me that life is a precious thing to take care of and be safe with. This caused me to believe that was true, not giving me the freedom to explore and take in other areas of life without extreme caution. However, learning about my cousin's cancer caused a powerful shift in my overall mindset with me wanting to face more things and explore more eventually with him. Because I realized then that there are many ways of dying so why not chase something before you hit the ground? Life then doesn’t have nearly enough time for you to do everything, but why not try to complete the things you dream of? Because the sky's the limit on the things to dream and achieve.

To really understand why the human brain does what it does is not possible for the casual man or woman. However, many humans picture others' opinions as stepping stones to the perfectly accepted. When in reality they are barriers designed by society to hold you back. All you gotta do is tear them down and live a full free life. Life has many dangers and ways to die so why not risk it for the extra thrill you're going to die at some point, so step out in the world and meet with friends go hiking, climb a mountain, or even go bull riding. 

As Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” This is what I learned from experiencing my cousin getting cancer. My cousin getting cancer gave me and him an important piece of knowledge and that is that life is too short, so you should go out and live with what you have. I believe that through my years of life, I’ve never felt this way until hearing and watching my cousin go through his cancer and chemo journey.