Family, friends and school buddies joined complete strangers this week in mourning the deaths of three young people — and looking for answers in a deadly mishap.

As police reports and witnesses have said, a car accident on Briel Avenue began with a fight outside a local bar. The three dead youth and the lone survivor, the driver, fled the scene when the police were called.

The truck in which they drove careened off the downtown Natchez road and into a ravine before striking a tree.

In an instant three lives were taken and three families ripped apart.

But the victims in this tragedy extend beyond the ones who died. The lone survivor’s life will never be the same.

The lives of the fight victims will never be the same.

All of the witnesses that will scroll back through their memories wondering if they could have done something differently will never be the same.

And certainly the police, fire and other rescue personnel who worked at the accident scene are forever changed by the images they saw.

But the rest of us, unconnected directly to the tragedy, are left to wonder what lessons can be found in this horrible situation.

Perhaps the lesson is enough to make you pause before you turn the ignition key to buckle up or not drive at all if you’ve been drinking.

Perhaps as you drive by the accident location, it’s enough to question whether your life is in order should a similar, unexpected fate come to you or someone you love.

In the wake of such accidents, the logical among us seek to find the exact cause, the singular point that caused the wreck.

But maybe what we should do is take a personal inward look and ask, what lesson does this teach me? And how will I change my life as a result?