Thursday Musings

There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as if everything is.

~ Albert Einstein ~

 

The very first night I moved to the city, almost 40 years ago, I was the victim of a mugging.   Naive (or just plain dumb)  country girl that I was, I boldly asked the muggers (three teens with a gun)  if I could have enough for train fare to get home. They must have been just as naive as I was because they gave it to me. I should have taken the money and ran, but a girl needed her cigarettes, didn't  she? The boys gave me my pack of cigarettes, as well. Then, with my purse in hand, they turned and ran away. It was then that my sanity kicked in because I turned to my friend and said, "Let's go." And we ran. You see, all my money was in my pocket, and these boys didn't get anything except an old useless credit card and my I.D. I just knew when they realized that they had been taken, they'd come back after us.

Fortunately, they did not, and my friend and I got away. But, we could have been hurt...or even killed...and all because I took for granted that nothing was going to happen to me. At some point, we all make the mistake of taking something in our life for granted...life, family, job, friends, even the air that we breathe.  Yesterday, as  I was reading an article in the newspaper about the little boy who was killed, I got to thinking about just how much we take for granted.  A reporter was interviewing people in  the community and all had the same thing to say, "Ours is the safest neighborhood in the city. Crime doesn't happen here." 
Well, wake up people.  We live in a world where any one of any race or religion can be the victim of a crime.  No neighborhood is safe.  

Sadly, I foresee that once the initial shock of this horrendous crime is over, all will go back to the way it was. The mothers who do sit out with their children will go back to paying more attention to their conversation than to their children, and those that don't sit out will go back to entrusting their five year old with the care of their three year old...because ours is the safest neighborhood in the city, and bad things don't happen here.  How quickly the horror will be forgotten!  I've seen it happen before.  Two years ago when a little girl from the community went missing, mothers were continuing to allow their little toddlers outdoors unsupervised.  Fortunately, that little girl was returned unharmed.  The fact is anything can happen.  It doesn't have to be some pervert kidnapping a kid. A ball can go in the street, and in a split second a toddler goes after it.  That quickly. Another tragedy.

Out of all the marvelous wonders in our world, I think life is the most precious gift we have ever received, yet I so many of us take it for granted.  We live as if we expect to be here forever.  We assume that the sun will rise, and we will live to see another day.  Sadly, that isn't always the case....especially for those of us who take our health for granted. 

When our body sends us little signals that are trying to tell us to take our butts to the doctor, we ignore them.  We think that it will go away or in our heads we imagine that it is nothing serious. When I was a smoker, and people would tell me I should quit, I shrugged them off.  After all, didn't my grandma smoke from the age of 20 and died of natural causes in her 70's, and nothing happened to her.  So, I continued to smoke until the day came that I couldn't make it up the subway stairs...and then I quit.  My breathing has improved, but I'll never be able to run up the steps like I once did.   We smoke, we drink, we overeat, we don't exercise anymore.  We think it will never happen to us.

Fortunately for me, with age comes wisdom, and I am no longer  that young foolish woman who so unwittingly put her life in jeopardy by asking  those thugs for her money and cigarettes...or thought nothing of hitching a ride with a total stranger.  I've learned  that nothing is to be taken for granted. Each morning when I awaken, I give thanks for another day to live my life to the fullest.  I give thanks for life.  What a precious gift it is!!!

Cherish yesterday,

Dream tomorrow,
Live today.

-- Richard Bach (from 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull') --