My Great Awakening

Have you ever encountered some unfortunate or difficult situation that has spun your life around and made you realize how lucky you are? That happened to me recently. It wasn't the exact occurrence or the situation itself but the fact that I was there, alive and in once piece while some other unfortunate individual there wasn't. We take life for granted. We expect to wake up every morning and we expect to make it through the day. We expect the sun to rise from the East and set on the West. Just like I expected to have a relaxing walk down the street, this girl and her girlfriend expected to be safe as they wandered down the street. Unfortunately that's not what was at stake for them.

I always wake up thinking about how lucky I am to be alive. So many people in the world go to sleep and never wake up again. I could have easily just slept forever and never woken up today. We live through the day thinking everything will be alright. We assume today will be just like yesterday and our life will continue just like it has done so for so many years. This girl didn't think so. She kept screaming, as she cried and rolled on the floor "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die." I felt helpless as I stood there watching her agonizing in pain. All I could do to help her was call 911.

Here I was at the perfect spot, at the perfect time enjoying a beautiful night after a delicious dinner of sushi. And there she was, bleeding out of her mind from a deep cut above her eyebrow, pleading for help. She was in pain.

We never expect to run across trouble. We always expect life to be smooth but when it isn't it hits us. It did to me.

Our lives are vulnerable to the world, to trouble, susceptible to danger even during the most peaceful time of the day, when we are asleep. She was just walking down the street with her girlfriend when the baseball hit her on her forehead. She wasn't looking for a fight or trouble. She was expecting to end her day in bed, safe, with her girlfriend, not in the hospital.

We all live and we all die. We don't know our future but we do know what we do have. Today I'm just lucky to be here alive, to be breathing and ready for another day (hopefully).