In the very beginning of my freshman year of high school, we lost a classmate to suicide. Although I barely knew him, it still hit me hard. I still cannot process the fact that he was sitting behind me in class one day, and the next day he was not there. September 5th through September 11thLO is National Suicide Prevention Week. This is a cause that is very important to me, and I want to use this opportunity to create a conversation. In the United States, nearly 43,000 people died by suicide in 2015. It is heartbreaking to know that this many people felt that they had nothing to live for. Every single day, I am thankful for the things I have to live for. However, I wanted more than just my perspective on this sensitive topic. So I sat down with my family, my closest friends from home, and some of my new friends at school and asked them, "What are you living for?"

1. Duane's Reason

"My family's unconditional love."

2. Mary's Reason

"So mine would be dinners cooked by my husband, inside jokes with friends, watching a favorite show with my daughter, a good book, walking along the beach, hearing my children laugh, watching my son play baseball, coffee, Christmas cookies in our pajamas, and the fact that I now only have to work four days a week!"

3. Alex's Reason

"I have a bunch of reasons. I enjoy making other people happy. I have a lot of people that make me happy and are always there for me. And I like eating cereal and watching Friends."

4. Jamie's Reason

"Family."

5. Renee's Reason

"Dogs, smiling, journaling, sleeping in, sunrises, sunsets, family, friends, traveling, long walks, changing colors of the leaves, orchards."

6. Katie's Reason

"Live for puppy kisses when you walk in the door."

7. Annie's Reason

"I love life because there is so much of the world that I haven't seen yet and I plan on seeing as much as I can and because once you figure out who's going to be there to pick you up when you trip, you don't mind falling down every once in awhile and because we're young and our bodies are strong and capable of incredible things and because there's no feeling like a field hockey game under the lights at night where the crowd is screaming and the clock is running but the world just seems to slow down and lastly, because the Sheetz parking lot knows all of our secrets."

8. Sarah's Reason

"My dumb ass wore my glasses in the shower but it got me thinking about all the things I want to see so that could be a reason to live, to see things and travel!"

9. Caroline's Reason

"Family, love, achieving your dream. Live for those who love you, live because you only get one chance at life, live because without dark times you can't have great times - and it would be a shame to not live through the dark long enough to experience the great. Live because in this great big world there is always something that will make you tick, something you can't live without doing, something you're too passionate about to ever let go of. It's a matter of finding it and you can't give up until you do."

10. Elizabeth's Reason

"You can only alter who you are when you're alive; anyone can interpret death."

11. Matt's Reason

"It's important to take care of yourself and focus on your individual goals, but also understanding that your own life impacts so many other people's lives as well, and that other people look to you as their rock in times of difficulty, and as that smiling face they appreciate in times of great joy."

12. MY Reason

"I live for sunrises and sunsets. Sunrises remind us that light will always follow the dark times. Sunsets remind us that endings can be beautiful too."

These are just some of the millions of reasons people keep fighting every single day. This list should not end here. What's YOUR reason?