These are trying times . . . a sluggish economy . . . atrophy in lending entities . . . and a remarkable loss of confidence in the populace . . . the old distinction between recession and depression is narrowing: "A recession is when my neighbor loses his job; a depression is when I lose mine." Last month 693,000 people got pink slips, aka a politically correct "reduction in force".
And there are those of us who are pondering what a trillion really is . . . a thousand billion to be sure, but how much is that ? For me a trillion became real when I found out that one trillion seconds ago man could neither read nor write . . . Jesus would not be born for another 29,000 years nor would the pyramids have been under construction . . . for a trillion seconds ago is actually, including leap years, some 31,ooo years ago.
But rather than worrying about the trillions that are being spent in various experiments to jump start the economy, I, we, had an experience last Friday that was at once harrowing and at the same time wondrous. Son Martin had a large plate of mushrooms for lunch while meeting with a prospective boss. Discussions and planning carried on late into the afternoon and then he turned for Coronado and family.
Only on the way from La Jolla to downtown, he started to develop sharp pains in his stomach that increased as he came the ramp of the Coronado bridge. He felt that he would be home in a few minutes and continued to drive.
By the mid-point of the bridge he was sick, sweating and hurting. He did have the presence of mind to move into the right hand lane. Almost at the end of the bridge he lost control of the car, an older BMW, went over the curb at an estimated 60 miles per hour, through some bushes, down a 6 foot drop and just past a tree and a lamp pole before careening across a street and coming to rest in a planting area adjacent to a park where young kids were playing. The hand of God had to be guiding him.
He was taken to the emergency room of the hospital and was subjected to a battery of tests and was kept under observation for 24 hours. His only injury was a black eye . . . and not a bad one at that.
So we are left with the thought of what did we do to deserve such luck in a situation that could have been at worst his death or even a lifetime of paralysis. We feel blessed, we are thankful . . . ever so thankful to have been spared what might have been an exquisite agony triggered by the death or disability of a child. Thank you, Lord . . . we owe you one !
