The week started with me reading Father Ronald Rolheiser's article, A Lesson in Contingency* and I experienced one such If Only situation three days later.
I was actually fortunate for I have a near-miss of Father Rolheiser's stolen briefcase in a moment of inattention just Tuesday past, but my luck ran out the next day.
In a bid to demonstrate to a client what not to do so that she would not injure herself, I got hurt instead due to a complete disregard for my own safety. In retrospect, I could see that I did not listen to my own body on many levels, hence the accident. I thought myself immortal, impervious to harm, and thus was foolhardy due to my impatience.
Now I am woefully sorry for I am limping in pain with a hairline fracture on my big toe, while the rest of my body creaks and moans in protest.
As Father Rolheiser counsels, both perspective and patience (so not my strong suit) are needed. I was filled with bitter regret and anger initially but I am grateful that it was not worse and it "in the grand scheme of things is, in essence, a mosquito-bite." And the over three-hour wait at the A&E for an x-ray and subsequent diagnosis was definitely an exercise in patience.
I like what he goes on to say about how incidents like this are also meant to teach us to recognize and forgive contingency.
"Philosophically, contingency means that, unlike God who is self-sufficient and perfect, we live with limit and imperfection. For us, every one of us, there will be moments of inattention, carelessness, accidents, stupid impatience, and moral lapses. The philosopher, Leibnitz, famously stated that we don't live in the best of all possible universes.
"Thus, there will always be lost purses, stolen briefcases, broken heirlooms, and, much worse, tragic accidents that result in lost children and lost lives. Sometimes too there will be moments of moral carelessness that we will also bitterly regret. We aren't God. We're contingent."
As this week has proven, I am vulnerable to errors in judgement and bodily hurt. But the silver lining in this cloud of contingency has been the love and concern of many people who have offered me succour in my time of need.
For that, I thank the One who is self-sufficient and perfect as I am not.
* http://www.ronrolheiser.com/columnarchive/?id=1061
I was actually fortunate for I have a near-miss of Father Rolheiser's stolen briefcase in a moment of inattention just Tuesday past, but my luck ran out the next day.
In a bid to demonstrate to a client what not to do so that she would not injure herself, I got hurt instead due to a complete disregard for my own safety. In retrospect, I could see that I did not listen to my own body on many levels, hence the accident. I thought myself immortal, impervious to harm, and thus was foolhardy due to my impatience.
Now I am woefully sorry for I am limping in pain with a hairline fracture on my big toe, while the rest of my body creaks and moans in protest.
As Father Rolheiser counsels, both perspective and patience (so not my strong suit) are needed. I was filled with bitter regret and anger initially but I am grateful that it was not worse and it "in the grand scheme of things is, in essence, a mosquito-bite." And the over three-hour wait at the A&E for an x-ray and subsequent diagnosis was definitely an exercise in patience.
I like what he goes on to say about how incidents like this are also meant to teach us to recognize and forgive contingency.
"Philosophically, contingency means that, unlike God who is self-sufficient and perfect, we live with limit and imperfection. For us, every one of us, there will be moments of inattention, carelessness, accidents, stupid impatience, and moral lapses. The philosopher, Leibnitz, famously stated that we don't live in the best of all possible universes.
"Thus, there will always be lost purses, stolen briefcases, broken heirlooms, and, much worse, tragic accidents that result in lost children and lost lives. Sometimes too there will be moments of moral carelessness that we will also bitterly regret. We aren't God. We're contingent."
As this week has proven, I am vulnerable to errors in judgement and bodily hurt. But the silver lining in this cloud of contingency has been the love and concern of many people who have offered me succour in my time of need.
For that, I thank the One who is self-sufficient and perfect as I am not.
* http://www.ronrolheiser.com/columnarchive/?id=1061
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