The Life You Save ...

Notre Dame junior Declan Sullivan, 20, sent messages to Twitter from the top of the camera tower where he was recording a football practice less than an hour before he fell to his death Wednesday.

In the first message, timestamped 3:22 p.m., Sullivan wrote, "Gust of wind up to 60mph well today will be fun at work... I guess I've lived long enough :-/."

The second message, which was sent at 4:06 p.m., less than an hour before his tragic fall at 4:50 p.m., reads, "Holy fuck holy fuck this is terrifying."

The National Weather Service reported winds of 51 mph in South Bend this afternoon. On campus, students struggled to fight the gusts as they walked to class.

Sad news out of Notre Dame; a good reminder to workers of all ages: listen to your gut instincts* and get yourself out of situations if you think your health is being compromised, today or tomorrow.

*I was answering phones in a small switchboard room at the Embassy Suites on Singer Island (Florida) one day when they came to paint around me. Couldn't understand why I'd object to them painting the 3 adjoining walls in an unvenilated place while I sat there working. Luckily, I had the brains and ... brashness, and got out.

It's hard to question an employer. Takes energy, and time, to watch a weather report and think how that might affect your daily routine. But you'd think, we'd all be smarter if we started respecting Nature a bit more, no?

Commonsense is underrated.