(1) Forum Discussion

Sean Taylor was a flawed guy.  In all fairness, his behavior during his short life fueled the speculation on TV talk shows and sports radio.  But the thing that people seemed to be ignoring was that the man was murdered in his own bedroom in the middle of the night while in the company of his girlfriend and infant child.  He wasn’t starting bar brawls with his posse at a seedy dance club.  He wasn’t making it rain dollar bills from a balcony of a casino.  He wasn’t in the champagne room at a strip club.  Sean Taylor was likely asleep in his bed until he was awakened and murdered by intruders.

I think in some respects, Taylor’s death fueled speculation because that’s what we all want to hear on our talk radio shows.  I also think that we’ve become so accustomed to being disappointed by NFL players that we’ve all become jaded and we just expect the worst.  But I really don’t think those are the paramount reasons for the speculation.  I just think it is human nature to look for behaviors that may have led to a tragic death. We want to find human failures that contribute to tragedy because, when we can find some fault with the victim, that tragedy seems a little less likely to happen to each of us.    None of us want to consider that we could be drinking coffee and watching James Brown one moment, only to have everything taken away in the next.  We like to be able to explain what happened to Lyle Alzado or Anna Nicole Smith to our children and tell them about the lessons that may be learned to ensure they avoid the same fate.  It’s much harder to explain what happened to Taylor.  The lesson is tougher to swallow but as important as any other.  Life is fragile and everything is temporary. 

No matter what we do, it can all be gone at any moment.  So make the best of what you have while you have it.