Sometimes things happen in life and you respond to them without thinking. Then when you have a moment of repose you play the scene back, like a director viewing an actor in the scene, and you see something that you didn’t see during the event.
That’s the way it was with me the other day. I was driving home from work and traffic was crawling up the hill. I jumped from the slow lane to the moving lane instinctively. A few moments later I was under a freeway underpass and saw, for the first time, the traffic problem. Three extremely expensive, high powered, brand new, very shiny, sleek sports cars and one cop car took up the jammed lane. CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH. All three cars were munched! The reason was clear. Left turn lane, under a freeway in a 35 mile an hour lane and no clear access to turn left. Gorgeous the Red had struck parked Dazzling the Black right into Indy 500 Yellow! I’m sure no one was smiling.
Well, I know I wasn’t. As I drove by this travesty of traffic I found myself sighing deeply. I said to myself, “My, my what a tragedy. All those incredible cars! All those wonderful cars all cracked up. What a tragic sight.” As I drove on I felt such sorrow for the drivers. Their beautiful sunny day had just been turned into financial and personal gray. I fell sorry for the creatures of transportation. “POOR BABIES”, I said to myself. And I thought of the dollars it would take to fix them, and the traumas the owners would have to face. I thought of the poor driver who started it all. I thought about how their ‘pride’ had all been hurt; people passing by gawking at their cars — something I’m sure they only wanted done when they were in perfect condition. I drove away just wagging my head.
A little while later, I don’t remember exactly when, someone kicked on the movie camera of my mind and the scene replayed. I saw it all over again. I felt it all over again. I sighed. And then somewhere in the recesses of my subconscious (maybe even from my spirit, ya think) I get this uneasy feeling that something was wrong. ME! I was wrong! Then it hit like a drop of acid burning through the film of my memory destroying the scene. I was feeling bad for THE CARS.
What about the peoples lives! Had I prayed for the souls as I went by? Had I even considered that someone inside one of those cars could have had broken legs, spine out of place, trauma to the head, or worse? Had I even considered that the souls might be in shock? I ought to have thought of THEM first; not the stupid cars! I SHOULD HAVE PRAYED. And so it is when conviction strikes; all you can do is choke… and go to God… and say, “Sorry Boss!”.
Original Copyright: © Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 7/02/2000