Dwayne Haskins died early Saturday morning.
May 3, was going to be his 25th birthday.
So much has been said today on Twitter, that I tired of reading it. Hearing of Haskins’ sudden and horrific death, and then reading many various responses on Twitter, reminded me of words penned some 3,000 years ago, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…”
Death is horrible and an unexpected death of a family member or close friend can be so shocking, so emotionally painful that one might even become bodily ill upon first hearing the dreadful news.
Sports journalists and personalities are contacted in times of sudden death and asked (or told) to offer their thoughts, and their professional opinions regarding the person who has suddenly passed from this life of the human race. Those sports personalities sometimes with little time to prepare utter things they later wish they had not said or written.
Today we saw this again in Gil Brandt and Adam Schefter. Washington fans will recall how upset they were with ESPN’s Michael Wilbon when he unwisely speculated regarding the murder of Sean Taylor.
My intent tonight is not to bury those men, nor is it to elaborate on what each of them foolishly and ill-advisedly said in the event of the sudden death of a professional sports athlete. We all have Google and can search for what they said.
I know I have personally put my foot in my own mouth more times than I care to remember, and each time it is so embarrassing. Though I understand some of the frustration of what was said today by Brandt and Schefter, it was also sad to see the responses of the sports-reading public displaying their own hostilities and venom.
The profound passage in Ecclesiastes 3 continues with such wisdom as, “(there is) a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,…a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate...”
When you think of Dwayne’s parents and siblings, shouldn’t our response first be silence and compassion? When we see others use his sudden death to take their own cheap shot, wouldn’t it be better for us to appeal to the fact that it is a time for mourning?
I love sports, and I have loved Washington football (too much) since I was age 6. But today reminds us more importantly that Mr. and Mrs. Haskins have lost their son, Dwayne, too suddenly and only at age 24. Secondly, this also reminds us death is our greatest enemy, and that not one of us will avoid it.
So please, can we attempt to put things in their proper perspective? Can we more often attempt to be people who discern the timing of when it is time to weep, mourn, be silent, and to love?