"You Might Die Trying"

Running gives you plenty of time to think about things. Whether it's personal issues, what you are going to do this weekend, what inventions you can make to become a millionaire, or maybe even world events. Well I would like to share some of the things that I thought about on my 17 miler this afternoon and it relates to the title of this post.

Most of you are probably not aware, but I am a HUGE Dave Matthews fan. This is a title of one of his lesser known songs, but it's one of my favorite. I was listening to this song on my run today and that's how I got thinking about everything. The lyrics go like this...

To change the world,
Start with one step.
However small,
The first step is hardest of all.

Once you get your gait,
You will walk in tall.
You said you never did,
Cause you might die trying,
Cause you might die trying.
Cause you---

If you close your eyes,
Cause the house is on fire.
And think you couldn't move,
Until the fire dies.
The things you never did,
Oh, cause you might die trying,
Cause you might die trying.
You'd be as good as dead,
Cause you might die trying,
Cause you might die trying.

If you give, you, you begin to live.
If you give, you begin to live.
You begin, you get the world.
If you give, you begin to give
You get the world, you get the world.
If you give, you begin to live.

You might die trying.
Oh, you might die trying.
Yeah, you might die trying.

The things you never did,
Cause you might die trying;
You'd be as good as dead.
You never did.

And here is a video of a pretty good version of the song. Basically, what I get from the song is that when you give, whether money, time, talents, etc and that's when you really receive and can "change the world." I was thinking about this because of the recent devastation that has taken place in Haiti. There has been nonstop coverage since the earthquake took place, and the images coming from there are just unreal. The thing that has amazed me the most is the outpouring of support from around the world. I did catch the Haiti Benefit that took place on Friday evening and it was very moving and raised a lot of money to help a country that already had very little. Right now, many of you are trying to decide on what colleges to go to or what to major in. Maybe some are beginning to think about the career they may want or the possibility of traveling abroad. Here is my advice...pick something that you enjoy and something that has an impact on others and take advantage of travel abroad programs or volunteer trips. It will make your life far more fulfilling. As I told a few of you on a bus ride home from a meet, I interned with Smith Barney in New York City my senior year of college. At the end, they offered me a full time job there and I turned it down. I hated what I was doing and to be honest, I felt like it didn't really matter and wasn't important in the scheme of things. I wanted to do something where I could actually have an impact on people and that is why I chose teaching. You may not make a ton of money, but it can be rewarding and people actually benefit from what you are doing. I will offer one more story that deals with what I'm talking about. My roommate from Marist is currently in the Teach for America Program. For those of you who don't know, basically you teach in a poor or underprivileged area. He is at a school in Newark, New Jersey. He sent this e-mail to me and the rest of our house from Marist.

"All right -

So you might have heard me talking about this before, but every Friday at the end of the day, I go around with a "treasure chest" to give out prizes to kids who got 5 stars in the past week for great behavior. Well, this one kid whose name is Shaquan has been in the school for 2.5 years and has only gotten treasure chest like 3 times. Thats unheard of. Anyway, this is a clip of what happened when Shaquan got treasure chest for the first time all year... listen for the Rocky soundtrack and announcement over the loud speaker. Its hilarious. "

Here is the video and it really is hilarious. Make sure you watch the whole thing because the funny part is at the end. My roommate is the guy holding the treasure chest. If you guys think I am any good at running, he is unreal. He is probably reading this so I will give him a little shout out. He recently ran an impressive 15:10 5k on the track and ran under 70 minutes at the Philadelphia Half Marathon this past November. That's blazing. I have to say I am very proud of what he is doing. He deferred going to Law School to do Teach For America. You can tell that the kids love him and he is a natural.

So back to my whole point of this...take advantage of the opportunities in your life to help other people and choose a major or a career where you can actually have an impact on others. It was definitely a philosophical run! Thanks for reading.