When we hear of such tragic deaths, our own lives are affected. We cannot just shrug it off or put it away from our minds because we are all part of humanity. What happens to one person can also happen to us. We realise how precious our own lives are. It could have been us. But for some reason we have been spared. We have been given life for a little longer. For us there is today. It should be a wonderful, happy feeling that makes us want to run out and kneel in thankful prayer to our Maker.

Often we take the gift of life for granted and spoil the day with quarrels, misunderstandings, vengefulness, greed and anything else that destroys happiness. We hurt each other with harsh, cruel words. We manipulate each other's feelings so that we get our own way. We deny ourselves the one thing that makes sense to life - the ability to love and to be loved.

The tragic deaths of so many people who were not given another day should challenge us to living with renewed commitment to life. When we say "yes" to life, we affirm the preciousness of our own lives and all the talents God has blessed us with. To love life fully, we need to love, to work, to serve, and to enjoy everything around us. Saying "yes" to life also means saying "yes" to people. Loving, serving, giving and being there for all kinds of people. It means affirming the basic values of human life: dignity and worth, the joy in human relationships, and the quality of life that we have for ourselves and for others.

When we are given more life and more time, we are also given more opportunities, more chances to serve others less fortunate than ourselves and to make this world a better place for someone else. But most of all we are given more chances to love - to give love and to receive it.

The disaster that has shocked us so much should not leave us just numb and helpless or complacent. It should make us intensely grateful for the life we have been given and enable us to focus our thoughts on what is really important in life and live life to the fullest. No matter what our age. When we do this and turn our own lives around, we are infact honouring the dead and saying "thank you... for it took your death to teach me how to live."