Yes, it is the people you spend your time with that prove it to be so invaluable; after all, what are we but those who we choose as company? What is our purpose in life but to protect our special peoples, to make sure that their time with you is as life changing for them as it is to you? It is the startling realization that, despite ones best efforts to justify an intentional departure from the realm of the living, the bonds that we’ve allowed to take shape between ourselves and others are just as they sound; they are binding. If there is one thing I’ve drawn from the tugging sympathy that pushes me to help others, it’s that I, that we, are here for the very purpose of aiding one another... A life is a part of oneself invested in another life. The unbearable sympathy for fellow humankind is the common sensitivity we all suffer that makes it the nature of humankind to hold on desperately to those bonds, to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps because of the obligation we feel towards others. What will keep you here on Earth is not a concern for yourself, but rather a concern for your siblings, parents, or friends. Remember this truth when the urge to alienate those precious to you arrises because the close connection you’ve formed is terrifyingly strong, when you are torn between allowing yourself to experience the onslaught of emotions necessary to caring and not feeling anything at all. As The Fox explained to The Little Prince about the connection he had with his Flower in Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince, “You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose...”