A few minutes ago, my wife texted me that she had tracked
our daughter, Stephanie, who is flying on an Alaskan Airlines – Delta operated
Flight, as currently flying over Memphis, Tennessee, going from Atlanta to Seattle. Stephanie had texted her that she – Stephanie, had only
slept about an hour and a half last night, leaving her hotel for the airport at
4:15 am and flying from Nashville to Atlanta leaving at 5:30 am. My thought
after I learned she was over Memphis, was, I hope she is able to sleep.
On Monday of this week, Bill Richard, upon finishing the
Boston Marathon, hugged his family briefly and then began to make his way
through the other runners to get his medal. If he is like me when I have just
finished a marathon, he was thinking of his aching legs and feet, how he wants to lie down, or of the wave of nausea started now he is no
longer running. When he hugged his two children and wife, he had no way of
knowing they would walk away from him into the blast of a pressure-cooker bomb
sending ball bearings and nails into their flesh.
It’s best that we do not always imagine the worst. I send up good vibes for my daughter, that she might be able to sleep over
Memphis, but we all know the real concern, the quite normal concern for
someone flying at 500 miles per hour seven miles above the earth in a metal tube. But Bill Richard
would have had no reason for serious concern over his family in the safety of
the crowd at a Marathon finish line. They would have justifiably more reasons to
be concerned for him, might he have an injury, or, his wife might
have suppressed some thought such as – is he like his cousin with a previously undetected heart issue made deadly by a marathon
distance?
I don’t know about you, but I spend most of my
time trying to keep nagging doubt and worry from my mind. Yes, there
is a bed of deep doubt, that death could strike out of the blue – a car could
pull into my lane and send me down an embankment into a fiery crash – and
after the footage from Siberia of a few weeks ago, that an asteroid might land
on my house – but most of the concerns I am suppressing if you see me with a
furrowed brow, will be more on the order of – is my nagging hip pain getting
better or worse, am I going to be fresh and lively for my next class or will I
be dull and lifeless, will the Cincinnati Reds come to their senses and fire
their current manager?
In other words, I seem to live in a world of what might be
called, luxury concerns; concerns, to be sure, but only for someone whose life is going well.
My wife’s father died suddenly at his work when she was nine
– her aunt picking her up at school and driving her home to her mom. After
that, she recalls not being able to join in when other kids were giddy or
lighthearted, when they laughed at the slightest thing, acted dumb, goofed off; or
otherwise cavorted around in a carefree spirit. She describes a seriousness that
sounds like she was thinking of the worst that might happen, while the other
kids were oblivious to the worst and perhaps only mildly concerned with something such as whether or not
they could get second helpings of ice cream or whether or not a friend liked the new
haircut.
Those of us who were not directly affected by the Boston
Marathon blasts on Monday, continue to live in a world of luxury concerns,
but we have been reminded that there are those jolted into the world of genuine concern.
I spent Monday afternoon fielding questions from friends and
family asking if I was in Boston, since they knew I had been aspiring to
qualify last year, but had not heard I had been
unable to do so - missing by a mere 45 seconds. Two nieces and a nephew called,
another niece texted my wife – in case I did happen to be running and had not
heard news of the blast yet, how sensitive was that? One of my sisters texted,
hoping I had not been there. A coworker emailed to see if I was okay. Several
friends on facebook posted on my wall, asking if I was there or not or
expressing gratitude, after I had announced I was not there. Another friend
said a friend with whom I have lost touch, was wondering
if I was running Boston- so she texted on their behalves, to learn my
status. They all had temporarily suspended their luxury-concern minds and allowed their genuine-concern minds to take over.
Terrorists understand this notion of luxury concern and how
it can be interrupted. Apparently they believe causing people to fear the worst, in crowds, at work, on planes, in high-rise buildings or
stadiums; will cause those who live in the realm of luxury concern to feel a
little more for those people on the earth who live in fear of their life – or
perhaps they simply want us to remember their organization’s name or their
cause, and understand the pain they experience that causes them to believe so
much in their cause.
What they apparently do not understand, however, is:
when our bubble of luxury concern is busted, we may spend more time imagining doomsday
scenarios, grieving losses, or simply being depressed – however, most of us, upon
learning of a heinous crime, will be reminded of the fleeting pleasure that is our existence and how
we need to not only be on the lookout for the worst, but resolve to
spend more time appreciating the best.
