Just in time for the Boston Marathon, insurance company GEICO thought it would be a good idea to run a commercial about a runner cheating the Grim Reaper in a marathon.
Supposedly, the actual premise is a stunt man cheating death, but the timing…
Death
Speak no ill of the dead
But in certain cases, we’re expected to extend that — not necessarily deserved — courtesy to the living.
Suicide at 14: ‘I Have Racked My Brain Trying to Understand’
“I’ve had five years to sit and think about it. I have racked my brain trying to understand the reason.”
Gee, I can’t imagine what pressures the globetrotter/hockey player/honor student/shorts-producing aspiring filmmaker/would-be Eagle Scout* was trying to escape.
To me, it was telling that his favorite thing was to go to Fenway Park and watch the Red Sox — i.e.- someone else — doing something.
Did he push himself? Or was he trying to meet someone else’s unrealistic-for-a-child expectations?
Push yourself, Ball. Rack your brain a little harder.
* The average age for Eagle Scouts is over seventeen. This kid was reportedly one step away three years ahead of that. My scouting days are long past, but it used to be that the final push for Eagle was pretty much a full time job in itself.
Random Acts of Gibberish 