For many years now this has been a topic of great debate in the medical community. Whether it is within our right, as humans, to take someones life even with "permission." There are many valid points for each side but I believe that it should be completely out of our power to do something as this.
Many people feel that because they are in pain and suffering that we should just "end their misery." But what makes us think that we are the people who should be making these decisions, even if their is consent from the patient. There is no way of knowing how true the patient feels on having their time end. They could be in a form of dementia, or depression, and not realize the impact that a decision like that could have.
People for years have passed away without any warning or choice in the matter and life has gone on just fine. Why is it that we feel now that we have the power to end someones life? For people of faith they believe that whenever your time comes it is for a reason, it is because the higher power decided that you have served your purpose on the earth. Although this is not a consensus between everyone there are a large number of people, such as myself, who believe the only person who should decide when someone else's time is up on this earth, is god.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Many times a scenario similar to this has played through my head. Every athletes dream is to be able to have a stellar performance against their rivals. The fact that I attended this school for three years through middle school made this day even more important.
The game had begun this Saturday morning of April. It was a lacrosse game between to teams with a ton of hate between them, Frederick and Thomas Johnson. As expected it was a physical game filled with gut wrenching hits and heart stopping goals. But come the fourth quarter T.J. had begun to pull away from Frederick, the team that I was playing for.
Previous to the start of the fourth quarter I had scored three times, twice on a drive around the goal, the other on a feed to the crease on a fast break. My senior season was coming down to this game as I had hoped to not lose to T.J. in this sport while I was on the varsity team.
The game had taken a quick break as is expected between each quarter of play. One of our players, the captain, was getting extremely emotional as he tried to fire up the team to come back from this deficit. He began jumping around screaming out, “Let’s go! Let’s show them what this team is made of!” It sent a quick jolt through the team as everyone began to get pumped and ready for this fourth and final quarter of play.
Starting from the face-off we came out full-steam ahead throwing check after check, hit after hit, the team gave all that we had in order to be in a position to win the game. A few minutes into the quarter TJ committed a penalty requiring them to be man-down for one minute of play. Immediately we took advantage of this as I scored within seconds of the penalty being called. Later on in the quarter a similar scenario played out and we were able to narrow their lead to one goal.
This seemed to be a wake up call to them as they immediately took the ball to their offensive half and held it their for what seemed like an eternity. The clock continued to tic past the 2-minute mark and I began to feel that we had lost all hope. That quickly changed as our captain was able to jar the ball loose and draw a slashing penalty, once again giving us a perfect opportunity to tie the game with only about a minute left.
The game restarted, as the penalized player entered the box, and we began to pass the ball around searching for an opportunity to score.
My fellow attack men, Andy, and I had a play that we ran to success nearly every man up situation. I would receive the ball at my position behind the goal and take it around to the right, the side that he was on. As soon as the defender would leave him and come to me I pass the ball to him and nearly every time he was able to squeeze the ball into the top corner for a goal. The problem was this time the defender realized what we were doing and knocked my pass down and it rolled on the ground passed Andy. He was able to pick the ball back up and pass it around again. The ball made its way back to me with about thirty seconds left and not a plan to go to. Andy signaled to run the same play we had just run and I questioned his decision, but went with it anyways as he was a smart player.
Running around the crease I waited for the defender to leave Andy and come after me but he never did, he stayed out on the wing defending a man who was not in position to score. I continued around the crease, in front of the goal, and shot it right between the legs of the goalie. That was it, I had done it. I made a play that every athlete dreams of forcing overtime on a last second goal to break the hearts of the TJ players.
We would go on to win in overtime nearly seconds after the face-off as Andy took it from the wing and scored. The celebration had begun and we could rightfully say that we never lost to TJ while on the varsity lacrosse team, a feeling that was great to have as we were never able to defeat them while I was on the football team.
The game had begun this Saturday morning of April. It was a lacrosse game between to teams with a ton of hate between them, Frederick and Thomas Johnson. As expected it was a physical game filled with gut wrenching hits and heart stopping goals. But come the fourth quarter T.J. had begun to pull away from Frederick, the team that I was playing for.
Previous to the start of the fourth quarter I had scored three times, twice on a drive around the goal, the other on a feed to the crease on a fast break. My senior season was coming down to this game as I had hoped to not lose to T.J. in this sport while I was on the varsity team.
The game had taken a quick break as is expected between each quarter of play. One of our players, the captain, was getting extremely emotional as he tried to fire up the team to come back from this deficit. He began jumping around screaming out, “Let’s go! Let’s show them what this team is made of!” It sent a quick jolt through the team as everyone began to get pumped and ready for this fourth and final quarter of play.
Starting from the face-off we came out full-steam ahead throwing check after check, hit after hit, the team gave all that we had in order to be in a position to win the game. A few minutes into the quarter TJ committed a penalty requiring them to be man-down for one minute of play. Immediately we took advantage of this as I scored within seconds of the penalty being called. Later on in the quarter a similar scenario played out and we were able to narrow their lead to one goal.
This seemed to be a wake up call to them as they immediately took the ball to their offensive half and held it their for what seemed like an eternity. The clock continued to tic past the 2-minute mark and I began to feel that we had lost all hope. That quickly changed as our captain was able to jar the ball loose and draw a slashing penalty, once again giving us a perfect opportunity to tie the game with only about a minute left.
The game restarted, as the penalized player entered the box, and we began to pass the ball around searching for an opportunity to score.
My fellow attack men, Andy, and I had a play that we ran to success nearly every man up situation. I would receive the ball at my position behind the goal and take it around to the right, the side that he was on. As soon as the defender would leave him and come to me I pass the ball to him and nearly every time he was able to squeeze the ball into the top corner for a goal. The problem was this time the defender realized what we were doing and knocked my pass down and it rolled on the ground passed Andy. He was able to pick the ball back up and pass it around again. The ball made its way back to me with about thirty seconds left and not a plan to go to. Andy signaled to run the same play we had just run and I questioned his decision, but went with it anyways as he was a smart player.
Running around the crease I waited for the defender to leave Andy and come after me but he never did, he stayed out on the wing defending a man who was not in position to score. I continued around the crease, in front of the goal, and shot it right between the legs of the goalie. That was it, I had done it. I made a play that every athlete dreams of forcing overtime on a last second goal to break the hearts of the TJ players.
We would go on to win in overtime nearly seconds after the face-off as Andy took it from the wing and scored. The celebration had begun and we could rightfully say that we never lost to TJ while on the varsity lacrosse team, a feeling that was great to have as we were never able to defeat them while I was on the football team.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
If I had to create a bumper sticker that modeled my philosophy for life, it would be "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." My interpretation of this phrase is that many people go through life trying to be like someone else or be as successful as someone else, but instead you need to be your own self and not what someone else has already done before you.
In today's society many people look at what someone successful has done before them, and they want to emulate it in such a way that they will become like this person. But I am trying to live my life in a separate way. I look at what my father has done in his life and am proud of what he has done, but do not want to follow in his footsteps exactly. Many people label me as just, the coach's son, and even when I tried to get away from it into college I was still labeled as such.
Many people have placed certain expectations upon me given the position I have been born into. I am "supposed" to go to college and play football. I am supposed to graduate from college and come back to coach with my father. Will all of this happen? Maybe. But I will do it on my own terms and because it is what I want to do.
This phrase has become the motto of my life as I try to break the mold that has been placed upon me as the football coach's son. Is it great to be associated with my father, with all the accomplishments he has achieved? Sure, of course, but when I am old and retired I want to have my own name that isn't shadowed by the accomplishments of my father. I want to create my own path that my kids will one day look at and say, Wow.
"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." The way that I have begun to live my life in a way to leave my own separate mark on the world.
In today's society many people look at what someone successful has done before them, and they want to emulate it in such a way that they will become like this person. But I am trying to live my life in a separate way. I look at what my father has done in his life and am proud of what he has done, but do not want to follow in his footsteps exactly. Many people label me as just, the coach's son, and even when I tried to get away from it into college I was still labeled as such.
Many people have placed certain expectations upon me given the position I have been born into. I am "supposed" to go to college and play football. I am supposed to graduate from college and come back to coach with my father. Will all of this happen? Maybe. But I will do it on my own terms and because it is what I want to do.
This phrase has become the motto of my life as I try to break the mold that has been placed upon me as the football coach's son. Is it great to be associated with my father, with all the accomplishments he has achieved? Sure, of course, but when I am old and retired I want to have my own name that isn't shadowed by the accomplishments of my father. I want to create my own path that my kids will one day look at and say, Wow.
"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." The way that I have begun to live my life in a way to leave my own separate mark on the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)