Month: February 2018

The other day I was walking to the library during my lunch break and saw a man who walked with a limp heading toward the library from another direction. A couple of seconds after I entered the library, I heard a groan, turned around, and saw that the man had fallen a few feet before reaching the entrance door. A young man who was nearby immediately went to the man who had fallen, asked him if he was hurt, and helped him stand up.

It was a meaningful experience for me to witness this kind of caring response. The young man who went to the man who had fallen responded without a moment’s hesitation. Another example of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. Another example of how we need one another.

This morning was unusual because several things happened that caused delays on my way to work. The traffic moved considerably more slowly than it normally does. The clerk at a store where I had hoped to make a quick stop couldn’t figure out the code to enter from a gift card and continued to make the same mistake even after I showed him the code on the card. The supervisor the clerk called for assistance stopped to talk to another clerk and was in no hurry to help us. And when I finally was at the entrance of the building where I work, a young man wasn’t paying attention and was blocking the door. I was about to say something when he noticed he was in the way, apologized, and moved. I try to keep things in perspective, and I realize these delays didn’t cause major problems. But it struck me that there were this many delays in a relatively short period of time.

When something happens that catches my attention, I try to discern whether it is a synchronicity and, if so, what it is telling me. Synchronicities are meaningful acausal occurrences. It didn’t take me long to connect the four delays I had experienced with my having put off something I’ve needed to take care of. Realizing this, I made a phone call as the first step in what I’ve needed to do and I resolved to make it a priority to complete the task.

The slow traffic, the slow cashier, the slow supervisor, and the young man not realizing he was blocking the door all occurred in outer reality. And yet they also had a dreamlike quality; I can imagine them happening in a dream and myself in the dream being frustrated and feeling helpless to speed things up. Just as the symbols and stories of dreams help us to learn about ourselves, to become more conscious, and to give us direction, so do synchronicities. Like dreams, synchronicities can give us the push we need to take steps we need to take.

Sometimes when I run errands during breaks from my job, I see a man who uses a motorized wheelchair. This man’s body is the size of that of a 10-year-old boy but his head is the size of an adult’s. I assume he works in one of the offices or businesses near where I work. I don’t know him and I’ve never spoken to him except to say “hi,” but I am so impressed by him. I think of how much more difficult and time-consuming it is for him to get ready for work each day than it is for me. And to commute to work, and to do his work, and so on. Writing this reminds me of another person who impressed me. When I was in graduate school, one of my instructors had multiple sclerosis. During the first couple of classes I sometimes had trouble understanding what she said because her illness affected her speech. But before long I was able to understand her fine; it was similar to getting used to hearing someone who speaks with an accent different from mine. She was an intelligent, knowledgeable, and capable teacher. And at times I would think about the challenges she faced each day because of her illness.

In my writing, I often emphasize the importance of making choices to maintain and improve our health: good nutrition, exercise, not smoking or using drugs, etc. I believe good health is a gift from the Creator, and we should do our best to take care of this precious gift. But sometimes people are given the challenge of health problems they did not cause or to which they did not contribute. Very likely my teacher and the man I’ve referred to were born with their disabilities. When I feel lazy, I think of them. Thinking of them helps me to be motivated to do what I need to do and also reminds me to be thankful for my gift of good health.