
Years later, when I was about 17 or 18 I was spring board diving at the local YMCA. I was showing off in front of the teenage girls that were there, and was coming down pretty close to the board. My last dive, I landed head first on the board and crumpled into the water. I wound up with a neck brace for a couple of weeks, and was very lucky I didn't break my neck. Mom always said I was hard headed I went back to diving, and a couple of years later almost did the same thing. But this time I caught the board with my hands and pushed off. I wound up whacking my leg pretty hard on the way by. So, needless to say, my diving days are over, and I have never been on a diving board since.
I've had a few other incidents over the years where I have been electrocuted, in a car accident with a moose, almost broke my neck again body surfing in 15 foot waves in Hawaii, etc etc.
I didn't care. I wanted to experience life to the fullest, and have fun doing it. I never really thought about death or religion.
Then I went to Kosovo, and a little girl put life into perspective for me. Watching her dying and not being able to help her was too much for me. That little angel never had a chance at life. Since then, I still put my whole self into everything I do, but she is always on my mind, and makes me actually think before I do anything.
It doesn't have to be something tragic that happens to you directly to affect you. Sometimes it's what happens to those around us that makes us wake up.