R.I.P. Sean Taylor

11/27/07

Sean Taylor was a professional football player. He was 24 years old and played safety for the Washington Redskins. For anybody who followed football will tell you that Sean Taylor was a thug and a punk, always getting into trouble. However Sean Taylor was shot and consequently killed early this morning after suffering heavy blood loss.

People die everyday, so why I am I even taking the time out to make mention of this?

For starters, being a professional athlete, and Taylor happened to be a very talented player, makes him a public figure, meaning his death gets more attention than that of your average person.

However the reason this particular situation has been really bugging me is that fact that he was only 24 years old, and according to those close to him, had really turned his life around.

Sean Taylor could have been anybody, and his public figure status just brings this to the forefront. At 24 years old, it would be an enormous understatement to say he died far too young. He also had a daughter who is only a year old, and will now grow up without her father, never really getting to know him.

The story is tragic anyway you look at it.

Being the sports fan I am, this story caught my attention, but it really just makes you think about a lot of different things.

We all know somebody who has died or we know somebody who knows somebody. And its never an easy thing, and part of dealing with the death of somebody we know is just really trying to sort out your own personal thoughts.

I obviously didn't know Sean Taylor, but when somebody only 4 years older than I am has their life taken away, its only natural to think about my own life and how quickly it can all be taken away. The things we bitch about on a day to day basis are quickly forgotten when we try and think about how lucky we are to be in the situations we are all in.

Anybody who reads this, we're all very young, healthy and more or less successful even at this early point in our lives. We complain and fight and show an indifference towards the things that matter most to us, and it really is a shame. And I am just as guilty as the next person.

The sad truth is that we usually don't take the time to reflect on any of this until something devastating takes place, and thats just unacceptable.

We all have been giving too much to take anything for granted, and this is really taking a shot at myself- but the fact that it takes the unfortunate death of somebody else to realize how great your own life is pathetic. And quite frankly, I'm ashamed at myself for not appreciating the good more often.

While Sean Taylor had his home broken into and was shot- a scenerio most if not all of us probably won't ever find ourselves in, we must be conscious of how fragile life can be, and to really try and just make the most out of the great situations we have all been blessed to be in.

I am not particularly religious, nor do I consider myself much of a preacher. In fact I am guilty of being far too apathetic when it comes to how lucky I am- and so I encourage anybody reading this to follow my lead in just spending a little more time being thankful- especially on the heels of the one day of the year we are supposed to spend reminding ourselves and others how thankful we are.

As the Sean Taylor tragedy, and any other tragedy teaches us, life is too short to waste. As cliche and corny as a lot of what I just said sounds, you all know its true, and we could all do a better job of trying to just enjoy everything we have been given.

Thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Sean Taylor, and everybody else out there who was taken from us too early.