Does Living Matter?

I mean it, does living matter? It seems like so many people are doing so many things everyday and it doesn't affect me. At all. Someone probably ran over a cat today. I don't know, and frankly, it's not my cat. It's not my neighbour's cat. The death of that cat doesn't affect me.
Imagine a freeway; this is something I do kind of a lot. Imagine a freeway: cars all around you, that one motorcycle driver who looks really in that tee shirt. That guy in the red Ford Focus, maybe his mum is in the hospital right now. The mother and teenager sitting in silence in the Honda over there, maybe they're really close but it's just a comfortable silence we cherish for some reason.
And none of that is something you know. You don't know if that girl is upset. You don't know if the person ahead of you is stalled at the red light because they're more focused on the mental health of a depressed friend.
How do you know? How does it affect you? And how, how on earth, does it possibly matter?
I had a friend. She committed suicide in early 2008 and its, even now, a frightening concept that she's just gone. What if she was still here? Is this one of those "City on the Edge of Forever"/Star Trek things? What if she was a focal point of time, just like she was a focal point in our lives? What if she was meant to be the spark of a revolution that will now never happen?
Or what if, and this to me, is somehow worse, it doesn't matter at all?
What if she was merely a grain of sand existing in jar with the rest of us. To remove herself bereft all of us, but in the grand scheme of things... One grain of sand will not tip the scale.
So does it matter?
I hope so.
Now, I want my readers to understand: this is all hypothetical and philosophical. I fully intend to live my life to the fullest and to protect life around me. I know my presence matters to those who know me, and I know theirs matters to me.
I am a believer in destiny, but it is a destiny of our own choosing. We carve the road less travelled, we carve our path in the jungle of life. Sure, we'll encounter cliffs, or a path will lead right over one. But that's why we were given grappling hooks. We learn. We turn to see the fire and loose the fear of our shadows on the wall.
I'll leave you with a quote:"I'm the first to know, my dearest friends, even if your hope has burned with time, anything that's dead shall be regrown: and your viscous pain, your warning sign, you will be fine.