Calling A Mulligun

"Remember that we become those who we die for, carrying their guilt on our shoulders, only having a life lost in the heat of innocent bravery. We are our loved ones heroes, and they won't even notice. They can't. That's the beauty of it, I guess."

For those of you who don't know, my father runs the Coca-Cola Scholarship Foundation. That means that every year, they give away 250 scholarships to high school seniors around the country. There are 200 $10,000 scholarships and 50 $20,000 scholarships, so that equals $3 million a year in scholarships.

The kids who get these scholarships are not just your regular everyday students. The people getting these scholarships are the ones making straight A's through high school. Lots of kids make straight A's though, so what else is to it? These kids are also the ones putting hundreds of hours into charity work each year. These are the kids who are captains of sports teams, presidents of student government, working 2 jobs to take care of their younger siblings because their parents aren't able to. These kids are heroes and inspirations.

It's around this time each year when my dad brings home 250 folders to look over and I like to look at them when I get the chance and I'm always amazed at what I read.

A few years ago, I attended the scholar's final night in Atlanta and was talking to this guy my age from Dallas who had received one of the $20,000 scholarships. We were just talking normal guy stuff, sports, music, girls, etc. With the night growing to an end, he said to me, "Man, you can't begin to understand how much this means to me. Not just the scholarship, but your dad has been the closest thing to a father figure I have ever had. He's only known me a few days and he's already offered to help me with anything I ever need. I hope you know how lucky you are to have him as your dad."

That stuck with me for a long time and recently it finally crashed down on top of me. I've never lived up to what I should be. I'm a smart guy, I love learning but I hate actually trying in school so I don't do as well as I should. In my heart, I love helping people, but I tend to shut people out and push them away because I'm scared. I guess I've just always been afraid of failing so I never really tried because if you never start something, you can't be expected to finish.

Well, that's going to change from now on. I've made a lot of enemies in my life and I don't have room for anymore. I do have a lot more room for friends though. So, it's time to start acting more like the man I should have already become. I want to do better in school, I want to be happy, but most of all I want to make others smile. No more chasing women, no more drinking myself into a stupor multiple times a week, no more begging God to give me things. From now on, it's whatever He wants me to receive. Wish me luck.