The NCAA tournament and spring break are two events that are strikingly similar.
Let me explain.
Spring break happens every year about this time. So does the NCAA tournament.
Thousands of men and women college students flock to places of a warm temperature so that they can indulge in good spirits and a whole lot of fun with people that they have never seen in their lives, and may never see again.
Small collegiate teams tend to luck out and win either their conference or conference tournament, and earn the privilege to travel some where they may have never been (the Big Dance) to play top notch teams who they will probably lose to very badly, and never see again.
Then you have those whiners who don't have enough money to go anywhere for spring break, and end up working, taking care of grandma or chauffering around other family members for a week. A great reward for half a semester's worth of studying wouldn't you say?
Not quite.
Likewise, there are many NCAA teams who have done almost everything possible to make sure that they made it over the hump and into the tourney outright, without needing an at large bid, but don't quite get the respect they deserve.
Life is not fair!
You have those teams/spring breakers who get robbed in the first round (or within the first couple of days) and have to go home. Then there are those teams/ springbreakers who plan on scoring big from the beginning of the week, but things don't work out the way they planned.
So where does this leave us?
Depends.
Spring break can be as great or as terrible as you want it to be -- it's entirely up to you.
I compare spring break and the NCAA tournament because both offer the individuals involved a chance to either grow (by working ahead), or to release some of that built up tension (by going to the beach, or wherever -- and having a good, relaxing time) that has been boiling over since the middle of February.
Where will you be this spring break?
Will you be catching rays, chasing shooters or spending as much time as you can getting to know as many members of the opposite sex as possible?
Or will you be at home, (or at one of the local NCAA basketball tournaments) relaxing with friends, and enjoying the healthy competition that goes on between rival collegiate athletic teams?
I am not going to give a sermon and say what you should and should not do over spring break. Just be wary.
A few short days of fun can change things -- friends can become enemies, currents can become exes, a person is tolerant of only so much alcohol, and rape is indeed a serious matter.
