JollyRollie's Blog

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

A Change of Heart:

Like many sports enthusiasts, I was most interested in stories regarding the accident of Ben Roethlisberger. Any time a prominent professional football player is in an accident, it is big news. When he drives a motorcycle without wearing a helmet, the news becomes even bigger.

My first reaction to this story was, “What a stupid thing to do!” That sentiment remained with me for a day; then I heard (probably for the tenth time) that Ben is 24 years old. While I continue to think that Ben’s action was foolish, I now have some empathy for what he did. My thoughts went back to the time was I was 24 years old. Yes, I can still remember that far back. Some of the decisions and choices I made then were very foolish indeed. I will spare the reader the details; not so much for your comfort as for my own.

Ben’s problem is even greater than mine was, in that he has the handicap of a large amount of money at a very early age.

Some time ago, I heard this saying, “It’s too bad that youth is wasted on the young.” How true!