« Showdown | OK, back to home | Autumn at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park »

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Chaff in the Wind

Thursday afternoon I was waiting in line at the Target Cafe when I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see my co-worker Ginny smiling at me.

“Good luck with your presentation this afternoon!” she said. “You’ll be great, and you’re looking good, too.”

“Thank you, Ginny,” I replied. “You’re looking good, too. It looks like you got a haircut?”

“I’m leading a missions trip to Africa next week, so I had it all shorn off.”

“A missions trip, huh? You’ll have to watch your mouth while you’re there!”

Ginny’s salty tongue made surprising appearances, often in meetings. It was only after you learned of her former career as a USO singer that you realized it wasn’t so surprising after all.

“Oh, I never use the Lord’s name in vain,” she said. “I just drop F-bombs.”

On Saturday Ginny was killed. A truck hit her while she was riding her bike along St. Paul’s beautiful, tree-lined avenues. This morning I’m attending her funeral.

We call things like this an “accident.” But they me think that every day we survive unscathed is an accident in itself. We hang on to our brains and breaths by a thread and rarely even realize it. We desensitive ourselves to danger. We careen around in automobiles that weigh several tons, we fly in planes thousands of feet above the ground, we put our trust in people and machines and constructions that are all just temporary. It is all just temporary.

What do we do about it, though? Holing up in our homes is one option. Fear is always an option; sometimes a tempting one.

I’d rather live, though. I’d rather desensitive myself to all the dangers and allow myself to experience life, but not desensitive myself so much that I don’t appreciate the hours or minutes that I do have. Equally important is appreciating the hours and minutes that my loved ones have, too. As my boss said when relaying the news of Ginny’s death, “Give your loved ones a hug today.”

We are but chaff in the wind, but while we’re briefly here, we should make the most of it.

Posted by Aaron on October 1, 2008 10:24 AM