I slept in today, as I normally do now that I am finished with the Fall semester of college. I woke up around 11am or so and turned on the t.v. ESPN was the first channel I saw since I like to get my sports updates before going to bed. The topic of SportsCenter was the death of Bengals WR(Wide Receiver) Chris Henry. Henry was only 26. Naturally when an athlete or someone with any sort of celebrity loses life it becomes a national headline. It started last night when Henry fell out of the bed of his fiancees pickup truck. Henry was here in Charlotte to visit his fiancee. According to multiple news outlets Henry had just purchased their wedding rings. A 'domestic situation' arose and Henry's fiancee hopped in the pickup and drove off. While she was pulling off, he jumped in the bed and less than a mile away he fell out. Henry was put on life support at a Charlotte hospital.
No one knows whether his fiancee intentionally swerved in order to throw him from the truck or if it was completely accidental. What we do know is she was not at the scene when the police arrived. Either way Chris Henry was a young man trying to turn his life around. He had been arrested more than once in his first few years in the NFL. The Bengals even cut him from the team at one point before re-signing him. Everyone who followed the NFL had a bad impression of Henry. Part of that impression due to race, the old NFL culture and/or his past transgressions. Those in the Cincinnati Bengals organization saw him as a changed man who truly meant well at heart. I can sympathize with what he was going through because I was there not too long ago. We all make mistakes during our youth. Most of us are lucky enough to be out of the spotlight of the media when we make ours.
Chris Henry spent 26 years trying to become the man he dreamed of being. He spent the past 3-5 years trying to overcome mistakes and better himself as a human being. Henry was avoiding trouble, performing well on the field and on the road to marriage. But in an instant everything he had accomplished and overcome in life became a side note. His death should not be in vain but should be glorified to the youth of America. No matter what you've done in the past, you always have a chance to redeem yourself. Chris Henry redeemed himself but his life had a greater purpose. Learn from your mistakes and look forward to the future.
"It's a terrible tragedy that just at the time he was running to daylight his life was snuffed out." Bengals Owner Mike Brown
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