NFL players give up and kill themselves

I was just reading about the boating accident down in Florida where the ex-UW linebacker, now with the Raiders and the lineman for the Lions, along with a College football player and a personal trainer were out fishing when their boat capsized in some rough water while they were anchored. The water was about 60 degres, brisk but survivable for a long time.

It seems that within 2 to 4 hours one of the NFL players took off his life vest and let himself be swept out to sea, not long after that the other NFL player did the same thing. Later on the college player saw a light in the distance and decided to swim for it, so he took off his life vest and swam for it leaving behind the personal trainer who was holding on to the boat and wearing a life vest.

I am blown away at how the NFL players basically committed suicide. They were not accidentally killed, and no one should feel sorry for them. They deljavascript:void(0)iberately ended their lives. I was thinking about this last night and incredible this is. I know that there is absolutely no way I would give up after a few hours in the water wearing a life vest. I mean, they were not alone there was 4 of them to keep each other's spirits up. The college kid was just dumb to remove his jacket so he could swim faster. What was he thinking.

I was trying to come up with a reason for the NFL players doing what they did. Could it be that these to physical specimens, these undoubted high school standout athletes, college studs and NFL players didn't know what to do on their own? Could it be that they were so use to having people coddle them and tell them how great they are, and doing everything for them that they lost the survival instinct that the common everyday person has? Is it any coincidence that the lone survivor was the one person that worked for a living and didn't have an entourage waiting on them hand and foot?

This tragedy illustrates a problem that our society has, and that is not promoting the competitive instincts in our children, not making them work hard for everything, putting them up on pedestals because they can dunk a ball, or hit a baseball, or because they are just big athletes. Most of the professional athletes have not had to do anything on their own their entire lives. They have people to do it for them. Is it any wonder that when these guys are left to decide and act in their own behalf that they so often come up short and make bad decisions? I think not. Look at all the athletes that get in trouble with the law, all the while making millions of dollars a year and yet they still go out and make stupid decisions. And in the case of these two NFL players, when faced with life's greatest challenge, they didn't know what to do and took the easy way out. What a shame, all they had to do was be part of the team in the water and stick it out and they would have survived just like the personal trainer did.