I’ve often thought of myself as extraordinarily blessed; so much so that I can’t help but wonder from time to time whether there is purposeful, divine intervention sheltering me. My yet discovered celestial reason for being. Take my accident last weekend. I was forced by another vehicle into a concrete wall at sixty miles an hour and walked away without a scratch.
I often deliberate my guardian angel with a Private Ryan-like torment. What have I done to deserve this charmed, unblemished life? For all intents and purposes, I’m a Plain Jane corporate lemming who is too risk averse to change her hairstyle, let alone change the world and thus, my boundless comfort is also my subconscious burden. My uncanny lack of scar tissue (both emotionally and physically) is not just a statistical outlier, but an outright improbability. I say my prayerful thanks with a gnawing guilt that I am misusing my godsent time.
And then I received some appeasing clarity. I was discussing the miraculous outcome of my accident with my preacher’s wife of a sweet, elderly grandmother when she said, “You know, Jessica, you just make so many people happy.” And maybe my purpose is as simple as that…
I often deliberate my guardian angel with a Private Ryan-like torment. What have I done to deserve this charmed, unblemished life? For all intents and purposes, I’m a Plain Jane corporate lemming who is too risk averse to change her hairstyle, let alone change the world and thus, my boundless comfort is also my subconscious burden. My uncanny lack of scar tissue (both emotionally and physically) is not just a statistical outlier, but an outright improbability. I say my prayerful thanks with a gnawing guilt that I am misusing my godsent time.
And then I received some appeasing clarity. I was discussing the miraculous outcome of my accident with my preacher’s wife of a sweet, elderly grandmother when she said, “You know, Jessica, you just make so many people happy.” And maybe my purpose is as simple as that…
2 comments:
It's not luck, purpose, or fate. It is what it is. You were the beneficiary of careful engineering, the physics of the universe, and quick wits, coupled with skilled driving. The front end of your Ford is designed to take massive violent force and dissipate it throughout the frame of the car. The rules of physics allow for a glancing blow to be aborbed over a length, as opposed to the point of impact. Your driving allowed you to decelerate the automobile with some control even though you did a 360 turn. Trained drivers will explain exactly how to do this if you take their instruction. Luck, or lack thereof, is reserved for the most incredible. The soldier who is the sole survivor of an ambushed platoon of 144 men. The photojournalist who catches a grazing bullet in the artery. The ski vacationer who dies in a bus accident coming back from a day shredding the slopes. Your purpose, your path, your life, will be revealed in due time. In the meantime, it is what it is.
The failure of an airbag to deploy which would have no doubt mussed your hair unduly. But making people happy is not a bad purpose in life, within some reason! Cheers & Good Luck, 'VJ'
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