Fixin Things

Cheesehead talks about the problem of people fixing problems. As I was commenting, I realize that I have a habit of fixing a friend. I try to help her swimming. I backseat drive. I told her yesterday that she didn't need to take a brochure that I had given her to the locker room (we were on our way to swimming). She just shrugs it off. I have no idea why I do this. I think it's a habit I need to break. I'm usually (I think) a good listener.

Someone at church told me how much he liked a change I had made. It's the only change I've been able to effect at the church. I responded, "well, you guys should make the other changes I've been suggesting. You might like them, too." Every time I suggest a change, I get the usual "they" won't like it. My friend whom I tell what to do, said, well go on and make the changes. Good advice, but ripping out the pews will require some co consipirators and I haven't been able to find them. The bottom line is they do not want to change because they are afraid of being "successful". Not my assessment; theirs. Scary, isn't it?

The basketball coach with the most wins was featured on NPR this morning. He was in an automobile accident and (I think) is in a wheelchair as a result. The doctors found terminal cancer. He just keeps going. He said he wakes up each morning grateful that he is alive this day. He said he is never sure whether it will be his last. And then he said something more eloquent but like that's all anyone has.

The thing about cancer is that I am no different from anyone else. I may have cancer cells still lurking in my body, but so can anyone. I may only have today, but so does everyone. Given the traffic in this city, I could be dead tomorrow, not from cancer but from a careless driver. Cancer is just one of the myriad of things that reminds us that we are frail human beings and our lives are like grass.