January 07, 2013
Never Alone
The parking lot at a local recreational site was snow packed, icy and
congested with people and cars. In an attempt to avoid hitting another vehicle
the driver of an SUV swerved, hitting two pedestrians and killing them. A
bystander reported hearing the driver say, “I
should have just hit the car. It would have been better to hit the car.” No
doubt we all wish we could avert tragedy through the lens of hindsight, but
that just isn’t possible. I can imagine the after-the-fact regret for Adam and
Eve when they ate the forbidden fruit, Moses striking the rock which kept him
from entering the Promised Land and David’s adultery with Bathsheba. Even when
we are without excuse God says, “Never
will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with
confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to
me?” (Heb 13:5b-6 NIV)
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Gail;
-----Occasionally I’ll notice I’ve crossed the white line onto the shoulder of the road during some momentary spell of inattentiveness. I have this mental response trained to come whenever my lapse into carelessness has been more than ordinary, unavoidable glitches in good driving habits. It strikes me like I just ran over a pedestrian. I trained myself to do this because there are a lot of pedestrians along my commuting route, and I have come to know that accidents are the combination of careless moments and specific situations. I react as if someone had been there because my careless moment is my half of what it takes to have an accident, and I want to further train my realization of how important is every moment of awareness.
-----Unfortunately, life is complicated. Even if you are driving fully alert, like the SUV driver of your example shows, sometimes a necessity for a snap decision is thrown at you. And we don’t often get into situations requiring such decisions, therefore experience isn’t there to help. How often do we get our first try at anything right?
-----There are two reasons making alertness and thinking well when thinking fast important. I’ve referred to the first: bad things can happen that will change your life for the worst. But the second is almost as unfortunate. We live in a world of ungrateful, unforgiving people full of raging accusations who don’t realize that everyday they make the exact same mistakes but while nobody is there to hit. We are loosing touch with the old saying, “But for the grace of God there go I.”
-----I thank God daily that my mistakes have been happening in situations of no import. I pray they never will. But my heart goes out to folks whose mistakes, identical mistakes as mine, happened in situations not of their choosing.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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