It ought to be thought about...

This is a political blog (well, insofar as it's anything, seeing as I never update it) but this was an article that caught my attention and made an impact on me today.

But, mostly, I've been thinking about you, the man or woman who saved my life.It may not seem to you that you did much. All you did was blow your horn. But it was your action that certainly saved my life and quite possibly the life of my daughter.

Source

It's not just the quick thinking of the car driver that moved me. It was the thought of how little we appreciate life.

We are alive.

Regardless of what you believe happens next, this consciousness is fleeting. We so seldom stop and give thanks for the simple grace that has been granted to us to be able to go about our everyday business, to watch sunsets and listen to music. We don't appreciate the gift we have been given, a gift that could be torn apart in an instant by random chance. You could be in an accident tomorrow, be diagnosed with something terminal, be hit by a bus crossing the road.

Yes, just the simple fact of life is a great gift. What have you done to earn it lately?

Post Script: July 23rd, 2006

It is a very strange thing I wrote this went I did. Five days later, I was hit by a taxi rollerblading along a busy street in Toronto. I was not wearing a helmet. I was very, very lucky only to have suffered a concussion and some scrapes; almost miraculously lucky really. I actually don't remember anything about the incident at all; only waking up in the hospital over an hour later. I have a sort of dreamlike memory of being in the ambulance, but it is very hazy. It seems as if I have been spared to finish some of the things I worked hard to accomplish. I am not a religious man-- spiritual perhaps, but not religious-- but it is hard not to think I have something left to accomplish. Even stranger, my left rollerblade was snapped into two pieces and my glasses broken, but both my foot and my face are fine. Maybe the boot acted as armour, maybe I was just lucky.

Another strange thing; the same day I wrote this, I was up at my University, speaking with a student of mine who sustained a head injury during the semester when she was launched through the windshield of her car. She was telling me that more than six months later, she still gets bad headaches, though most of her ability to concentrate has come back. Strange that I should have this conversation the same day as I wrote this. Perhaps I was being warned? Well, it seems as if my injury was less severe, and I have been much luckier. Still, how easily it all could have been taken from me! I am recovering slowly, but surely; with hopes, I will be able to return to work shortly. But with a changed perspective I think.

I should also say, just to add a political note to this, that the folks at St. Michael's hospital were simply awesome, as was the police officer who was there when I woke up. They were good-humoured, attentive, and arranged for a thorugh battery of tests that left me confident I will recover fully. So anyone who has something to say about public health care can shut the hell up. *grin*