Shadow over Olympics

A day before the opening ceremony for the Vancouver Olympics, during a training run for the world's fastest luger track (google it), a member of the Georgian luger team slid to his death at a bend late in his run. I heard this, and I was literally speechless. I was in complete disbelief until I checked it out for myself. The feeling surrounding the Olympics always seemed clean, and by that I mean a flawless gathering of countries to compete fairly for themselves and their countries' pride. It kind've brought me back down to earth. Imagine how that family feels, supporting that person throughout his athletic career, and having this happen to him a day before the Olympics. His teammates who trained alongside him, but now won't be able to see him compete, after hearing him talk about it, seeing work hard for it, it's ridiculous. A pair of US olympic athletes came to my school to speak for a while, and it was surprising how much time and effort they put into just being able to qualify for the Olympics, and though this goes for any untimely death, it really made me aware of the fact that I could die at any point in my life. I'm going to college*, going to Med school, etc etc, and I this whole plan I have laid out in front me might abruptly come to an end. It makes me wonder, should I just do what I really like doing (art) instead of pursuing something I'm sort of interested in that's definitely going to lead to a 'successful' career economically. This always leads to an extended period of confusion, frustration, and eventually a somber realization that I'm gonna end up sticking to the plan laid out in front of me.

ANYWAY.

* I got into Clarkson University and Manhattan College. =) A lot of pressure was taken off but another 12 colleges reply in about a month. Oh boy. Wish me luck .