– Mark Wells, a member of the winning USA
hockey team, 1980, sold his gold medal for $40,000.
Fate twists like a ribbon holding the medal.
What gleamed in gold in 1980,
has now turned to green cash in his hands,
needed for dire medical and financial reasons.
How cruel the (skating) gods are,
to be lifted to the sun one moment,
only to be cast down in pain the next.
Most of us skate merrily along
on the easy comfort of home ice,
tooling back and forth,
occasionally stopping for hot chocolate.
But would we, could we,
exchange our ease for hard-won glory,
triumph for later tragedy, if offered?
Mark Wells, sadly, had no choice.
He was forced to deal with the
“dark side of life later.”
Would we accept such a devil’s bargain?