We have been talking a lot about culture lately, and the important part of it is that culture can take a hold of you and turn your focus onto what it believes should be the focus of your life. This causes us to lose sight of what we believe as individuals is really important in life. Sometimes it takes something big to center us back into the middle of something important. And so with all due relevancy:
Last night my daughter was running to the bathroom when she slipped and fell straight into the corner of a dresser. I knew it was going to be awful - I watched the whole thing from 10 feet away. We rushed her to the ER where they decided that she needed surgery. Her tongue had a huge gash in it and 4, yes four teeth were loose. (I had shoved two of them back in before we left for the ER.)
So now I can't sleep I keep thinking about the whole incident and how awful. It keeps replaying in my mind. And yet I am thankful that she is okay and I am lucky to have her. So first the snowblower incident and now this. What else do I need to be centered? (nothing, thanks) So as you watch the movie, keep in mind the busy-ness of your everyday life and how the important things get drowned out by the little things. I think it happens now especially at our school, but it only gets worse. As you progress, there is more and more to do and more and more to worry about and distract you.
Sal, this is a great message for your students. I always leave my students with a similar message on the last day of class. I do a demonstration in which I fill a jar with small balls, sand, pebbles and water. I then ask them if I could have fit the same amount of stuff in the jar if I had filled the jar in the opposite order. The answer of course is no. The point being that we need to put the big items in first. In our lives, we must fill them first with the important items because there will always be room for the small stuff, but if we fill our lives with the small stuff first, we won't have time or room for the important things.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it is usually when we have a close call like with your daughter that we remind ourselves of that!
IM SO SORRY!!
ReplyDeletei hope she feels better but keep some peace within yourself and it will help u stay centered
I know exactly how it feels to lose a grip on things.
ReplyDeleteAfter my own tooth accident I was so unfocused, worried, and self concious. I became extremely preoccupied with trying to make up all my work and do a thousand things really fast that I lost focus in little things--like pulling out of the garage the right way, or wiping the bathroom floor...so in addition to a broken mouth I had a two car accident with my own vehicles, and a fantastic fall on my tailbone.
When life gets hectic it's hard to just take a step back and realize: I need to get better, I need some sleep, I should call my grandma.
I hope Olivia feels better.
At least they're baby teeth :).
I think accidents like this tend to happen with little kids. My sister fell flat on her face and broke her nose when she was younger because she thought she could jump five monkey bars.
She turned out okay...
Wow Sal,
ReplyDeleteI know how hard it to worry about your loved ones like that. Especially when they're in the hospital and I look at your little girl and you can tell she's such a trooper. She really does look beautiful. Life becomes difficult very fast and it's hard to keep up sometimes. But then again if it's your life shouldn't you have some control over how difficult it becomes? I mean for some of the kids at school who stress like crazy over hw. If they would have done it sooner or just asked for help their lives would have been easier, right? I think American culture has taught people that if you're not freaking out about something or working they might not really be alive and if they keep moving they wont have to find out.
And about your girl's teeth...don't worry, I was told that God wouldn't have given kids two sets of teeth if he didn't mean for them to be knocked out. ;P
Gotta love those Europeans!!