Don't Forget the Big Picture

By Managing Editor Kara Apel, Alumna of the University of South Carolina

In college, it's hard not to get hung up on the trivial things like ... what will I wear to the football game? Or who will I take to my next sorority function?

We forget that life is fragile and that we are not invincible until something happens in our lives that makes us stop and think.

I had one of these moments this past Saturday.

I was watching my Gamecocks play against Tennessee when the game stopped as medics rushed on the field to tend to a fallen athlete. It became clear that this was star running back Marcus Lattimore - and it didn't look good.

My heart sank as I waited - and prayed - he would be able to get up and walk off the field. As time ticked on, it was clear he wasn't going to be picking himself up - and that this was probably the last game of this season, maybe even the last of his career.

You see, Marcus had already sat out part of last season after he tore his ACL in his left leg. When he went down on Saturday with an injured right leg, it looked (and seemed) hopeless. The crowd - and all of us watching on TV - were in shock. How could this happen to such a man of character? Again?

And then something happened that reminded me that life is more than football. Members of Tennessee's team came over to join the Gamecocks to circle around and support Marcus, something that you never see in an intense SEC game.

The moment may have been short, but it spoke volumes about Marcus' character on and off the field. The tweets and kind posts from all over the nation (even from our arch rivals, Clemson) were touching. Everyone stopped for a moment and thought of Marcus.

It later surfaced in the post-game news conference that Marcus had given a speech the night before to his teammates that circled around the theme of playing each play like it was your last.

While Marcus is recovering from the injury, the questions abound. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why Marcus? Why did this have to happen like this?

While the answers to these questions will never be answered, there is one thing we can do. We can play each play like it's our last. Live every day like it's our last.

After all, mortality is a very fragile and fickle thing, and we don't have the slightest control over it. Saturday's game struck a chord with me, and I hope you keep this in mind as you run from class to class and from all-nighter to all-nighter. Carpe diem.