Yeah, I know, heavy topic title but this one of those thoughts that always floats in my head when I’m sitting somewhere quiet and maybe just talking about it will help?
About 12 years ago I was working in a call center. Great people, really tightly knit group. Me and a couple of the other guys that work there decide to play basketball one Friday morning. A couple of other people hear about it and we have like 9-10 people show up. It was so popular it turned into a weekly game. Now, one guy we worked with, let’s call him “Andy” was always talking smack saying how he was going to come out one day and show us all how to play, etc. Important to note that was all lighthearted and not meant in a mean way, he was just one of those really friendly guys who could bust your chops with a big grin on his face and it was all good. Well he and I always had a back and forth because we both like to kind of rip each other playfully. Andy keeps talking about coming out and I keep giving him a hard time when he doesn’t show up. One Thursday I was really just laying it on, and was basically challenging the guy one on one for the next meeting. He’d also been talking about starting a new diet and wanting more exercise so I was also trying to encourage him to join us for the that reason, too. So the next morning rolls around and here comes Andy rolling up, big grin, ready to back up his smack talk and just have a good time. We all warm up, get teams started and after a few possessions Andy is under the rim and goes up for a rebound. Gets the ball but just comes down awkwardly and hurts his knee. He’s saying it’s pretty serious but is able to kind of walk off the court without assistance. Cuts out early because he wants to get it checked out. Texts me later saying he tore his ACL and is actually going to have surgery the next day. The day after Andy’s surgery we all get called into our conference room. During Andy’s routine surgery, a blood clot developed that travelled into his heart and killed him on the operating table. I was devastated at the time. Of anyone in the office, I was the one who was always encouraging Andy to play with us, giving him a hard time, trying to get him involved. He was 27 years old and his journey just ended because he landed awkwardly from a rebound and didn’t survive a simple surgical procedure and it still comes back to my mind fairly often.
I know I can’t have predicted these series of events, but it’s still hard to ignore my influence in the actual course of things.
EDIT 1: Wow, I definitely did not expect this many positive replies and people offering great advice. Definitely didn’t expect this to hit the front page. I’d love to reply individually but it’s easier for me to just say thank you so much for everyone taking the time to stop by and leave a positive comment!
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