EDITORIAL

Last week’s tragic car accident that left three teenagers dead is a

painful reminder that life can be shockingly and brutally short.

As if we all needed that reminder.

The loss of two 19-year-olds, Jillian Baedeker and Chelsea Toma, and

18-year-old Nancy Le has devastated the wide web of family and friends

the three had woven over the course of their too-short lives. The

memorial constructed at the site of the accident, Beach Boulevard and

Edinger Avenue, the funeral services held and the words that have been

repeated about them have all been testaments to the lasting impact the

trio had here in Huntington Beach, as well as far beyond its city limits.

There always is little to say at such times. Words are vastly empty

because there is too much unfettered emotion to package in a phrase or

thought, no matter how honest and heartfelt. Loss like this is the very

definition of unspeakable, of unconscionable.

The solace that can be found is in the coming together of that web of

loved ones, when the best of humanity rises to meet the deepest horrors

of life. Action fills the holes that words cannot touch. We saw that to

an unimaginable extent following the unimaginable catastrophe of Sept.

11. We are seeing it again now, in the aftermath of a perhaps smaller,

but no less unthinkable, tragedy.

And that welling of support proves two things. Jillian, Chelsea and

Nancy will be missed. But they also will be remembered.