This Outside the Lines story will break your heart, but that is why you should read it. With a son of my own (who loves the game of basketball already), it certainly stirred mine.

The piece concerns Nate Fleming, a 20 year-old member of the Oklahoma State basketball team who died in 2001, when one of the team’s small charter planes crashed in Colorado. I remember the plane crash well, for it occurred during my senior year at Penn State (and we traveled charter flights often, though on larger planes). But this story definitely gave a greater perspective than any newscast every did. The letters of his father to him particularly stand out. I usually send one letter each year to each of my children, but after reading this piece, I think I will send more. Check it out (particularly the written piece linked to above).

One final note: Though the video below is a stirring one, the first statement is (at least I certainly hope) far from reality. “Everything is by chance.” If so, what comfort can you ever find in such a world as this? If you really believe this, that is a tough way to live. Or at least a very difficult way to live consistently. Just some food for thought.