Inspirational Quotes and How I Killed George Burns

Karen Seddon has another great posting about how she uses Inspirational Quotes in the classroom. She asked us to leave our favorite quote on her website as a comment. So I did. Mine is from George Burns. One night, during my senior year spring break on a late night TV show, George Burns said, "It's better to fail at something you love, than to succeed at something you hate." Year was 1991. What show? I can't remember. I know I went to the beach the next day and kept quoting it over and over, that was the last time I wore a bikini, and I won a bet by getting a fake tattoo. But I can't remember what late night tv show I was watching.
So when I realized I wasn't into the drama off the stage that often came with theatre and movies, I changed my career path to education. Yeah, I prefer the drama there. George's quote inspired me to try a different route, and I was pretty happy teaching the kids in the Gingerbread Theatre classes.
So how did I kill George Burns? Well in High School I told a friend of mine that I would know I was a success the day I got to star in a movie with George Burns. She commented on the fact that he was old and I told her not to worry - he wasn't going to die until we starred in that movie together.
It was around Spring Break (again) and I was back home (March 1996). I ran into that old friend and we caught up. I was getting ready to graduate with my degree in education and she was a bit shocked. She asked me about starring in the movie with George and joked about me putting him off indefinitely like that wasn't a very nice thing to do. I nonchalently said that George could go ahead and rest in peace now and die now, I was going into education. I didn't mean it literally! But the next day she called and informed me that I killed George Burns! Possibly of a broken heart because I was giving up my dream. Either way, I was horrified!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I killed George Burns. (But don't sue me for it. I was no where near him and unless he really was God there is no way he could have heard me!)