Leaving Too Early

"Kids should stay kids as long as possible; once you enter adulthood there's no turning back."

-Ed Azzam-

The other day on the radio (Sports 620 KTAR) I heard about a kid named Jeremy Tyler. He is an elite high school basketball player who is skipping his senior year of high school to head oversees to Europe to begin his professional career. I'm not sure I agree with the decision to do so. More and more I am seeing that kids are becoming adults far faster then they need to be or should be. I do believe teenagers are far more capable of doing things then they are given credit for, but at the same time I think kids need to be kids. Jeremy's life is forever going to be changed now. Sure he will make money. Sure he will be able to develop his basketball game at a higher level. But is it worth it all? Every single teenager I know right now that has been forced to give up some of their youth in exchange for having to act like an adult hates it. There is just something about being able to still be a kid that just makes life a little more tolerable. I think in the end this is going to be bad for Jeremy. And not only for him but the precedence that I think it will surely set. Hopefully he knows what he is doing - and hopefully the adults who are influencing him know the sacrifice they are pushing him to make. But in the end, I think he will look back and regret it - no matter how much $$ this decision brings in.