Steve McNair laid to rest

Steve McNair was laid to rest Saturday as almost 5,000 turned out for the former NFL star’s funeral in his home town of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Among the NFL players present to pay their final respects were Ray Lewis, Brett Favre, Vince Young and many others.
Police have determined that McNair was shot, most likely while he was sleeping, by the second victim, Sahel Kazemi in an apparent murder-suicide. McNair had been dating the 20 year old waitress for some time.

"Sahel Kazemi “was spinning out of control” when she shot McNair four times as he dozed on a sofa early Saturday, then turned the gun on herself, Nashville police chief Ronal Serpas said. Interviews with friends revealed that Kazemi was making payments on two cars, her rent was doubling and she suspected the married McNair was having a second affair with another young woman."

By now we have all been been exposed to stories of McNair’s contributions both on and off the football field. Indubitably, we have also heard from those who have been hesitant to label McNair a hero in light of the circumstances surrounding his unfortunate death.

No matter which side of the spectrum we lie, most of us have already formed some sort of opinion of the man based on the information that has been spoon fed to us over the course of this past week. It is in our nature as humans to judge. It is to be expected. However, let us not use this unfortunate incident as a source of debate or banter around our social circles, cross referencing our judgments with our own advertised personal code of conduct. Let us instead take a moment and reflect upon ourselves and ask the question of whether or not we would come under such scrutiny if our secrets were revealed in such an untimely manner as this. We all err. We are human. For most of us we will never experience the limelight that a professional athlete endures. We watch the news and we watch Sportscenter and we gasp when we read the headlines whenever a professional athlete is arrested, fined, or makes a generally offensive statement. Often we hold these people up to a higher standard than we do even ourselves. What we must remember in times like this is that athletes, actors, musicians, etc. are entertainers not role models. We would hope that those given such great opportunities would conduct themselves with honor, but this is a belief that is set up for failure. Stars err just like the rest of us. All we can do is make sure that we conduct ourselves in a way that falls within our own moral code while reserving our judgments and hope that others do the same.