"Every man dies, not every man really lives."

I was watching the movie "Braveheart" the other day and heard a quote from that movie that I really liked. During the movie William Wallace says, "Every man dies, not every man really lives." There is a lot of truth to this quote. A lot of people simply drift through their lives and live for no reason or purpose. If you were to go to a graveyard, and look at someones tombstone, you would see a date, followed by a dash (-), and then another date. The first date is obviously the day that person was born while the second is the day they passed away. On that first day when a person comes into this world he/she comes into the world with nothing. And on their last day that person dies with nothing. It is that dash where their story is told. It is the years between their date of birth and their date of death that defines them as a person. We need to make sure that we truly live our lives everyday. My last post was entitled "thinking positive" and I think we need to carry that thought with us everyday. When we wake up in the morning, we are alive. We have been given another day and we need to make sure that we make the absolute most of it.

Athletes can take a lot from this quote as well. I work around college athletes every day. They have been given a talent that many people don't have. Now they can bury that talent and just skate through their athletic career and be done. Or they can make the best of what they are given. Because one day they won't be an athlete anymore and they will either be remembered as good or great. They must have the "never satisfied" attitude and make sure that they use every day that they have to get better at their craft. That's what makes the difference between the good ball player and the great ball player. The great ball players are the ones that go down in the record books as legends. If I had my choice, I think I would rather be known as a legend then simply an alright guy who wasted what he had been given. So I guess this is a challenge to everyone out there, athlete or not. Are you making the most of everything you've got. Are you making the "dash" in between your birth and death dates something worth remembering. Because yes, every man will die. It is a fact of life. But not every man will truly live. Make sure your not in that category.

Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life. Jackie Robinson