Live until you die
Here’s a question to consider. Right now, at this moment, are you living? Really living? Or, are you biding time until you die?
Sunday morning’s edition of ESPN’s Outside The Lines included a report about Gay Culverhouse and her efforts to develop a program to assist retired NFL players in obtaining financial and medical assistance. Culverson is the former president of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and daughter of the team’s former owner, Hugh Culverhouse.
According to ESPN.com,
Culverhouse’s decision to take up the cause of retired NFL players came after the May 2008 death of former Buccaneers lineman Tom McHale from an accidental drug overdose. McHale was just 45, but his brain, researchers later found, was marked by signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurological disease common in boxers, which frequently leads to the early onset of dementia.
Ms. Culverhouse has a compelling story to tell. Beyond the challenges of being the only female NFL team president at the time, she was also forced to drop out of the public eye in the mid-90s, after she and her daughter became the targets of a stalker. Click HERE to watch the program video or HERE to read the related story. If you are interested in reading more about the Players’ Outreach Program mentioned in the story, click HERE.
What makes the story even more remarkable is that Gay Culverhouse is dying. She admits in the piece that she is already on borrowed time, approaching seven years post-diagnosis of myelofibrosis, a blood marrow disorder. It is something she said relating to that part of her life story that caught my ear.
After her diagnosis, Culverhouse sought out her priest. In the OTL piece, she shared the following conversation:
Culverhouse: I need some advice. I’ve never died before. Could you give me some advice here?
Priest: Live until you die.
Culverhouse: Sounds pretty good to me. I think I’ll do that.
What a simple, but powerful, message to all of us. Live until you die. Just keep going. Don’t stop living to start dying. Keep living. Live until you die.
Yes, we are all going to die at some point, some of us sooner than others. And, yes, some preparation must be done. However, the message shared by the priest was to keep doing the work we are driven to do. Don’t stop following our passion. Don’t stop living because we are dying. Live until you die.
Live until you die.
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While writing the above post, I was reminded of the “Don’t Quit” poem. No one seems to know when it was written or who the author was. It has served as inspiration for many over the years on greeting cards, plaques, posters, etc. I think it’s another way of saying, live until you die.
Don’t Quit (author unknown)
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.
Tags: Charity, Compassion, Health, Life, Sports
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