15 seconds

I was a marching band nerd.

Big time.

All the way thru college.

I attended the University of Cincinnati, and was a very active member of the Bearcat Bands all 5 years. During that time I was on television numerous times (yes, even close-ups), performed across the country, was recorded as background music for a videogame, and played on a local radio station once as part of a game preview show. It was all par for the course.

One of the marching band traditions is to charge the stadium steps before every home game.

I did it. I'm estimating over 50 times during my college career (games + practices). During my time there was only one incident in which someone fell toward the bottom of the steps during practice. No injury.

And never an incident during a performance.

Until now.

Going into this game, in his senior year of college, Chris Ramhap had no idea he was about to be featured on ESPN. Or that the YouTube video would go viral. Or that he would be interviewed and his story made even more known.

He had no idea, going into this game, that he would be famous. That he, not just as a uniformed member of the band, but as a featured face on sports TV, would be seen by millions.

He had no idea I would be blogging about him.

But this story isn't really about him. It's about all of us.

We all have the potential to be thrust into the spotlight at any moment. Whether it's for 15 seconds, 10 minutes, 2 weeks,  a year, or a lifetime... it could happen.

We're not always prepared for it. I would dare so no one is every truly ready for that spotlight.

As an alum who charged the steps plenty of times in my hey-day, I've spent probably too much a lot of time thinking about Mr. Ramhap. What happened, how it happened, and more importantly, how he reacted to it.

And I realized, it's not always about how we found ourselves highlighted by the garish, unforgiving rays of the spotlight... it's more often about how we handle ourselves,  how we carry ourselves, after we're there.

And isn't that a metaphor for life itself? Life rarely, if ever, turns out how we expected. The light of reality is much less forgiving than our dreams.

And how we got where we are? Well, that's a great learning opportunity, but once the moment is past, it's not much more. It's in the past.

What matters now is how we react to it, how we carry ourselves where we are today. Do we handle ourselves & our loved ones with care? Do we respect ourselves & others? Do we press on when faced with trial?

Where are you right now? Forget about how you got there. Where are you? And now what are you going to do with it?