What Matters Most

Last night at work we were testing a rebuilt pump to make sure it would ‘hold’ when a line came off and sprayed my eyes with a chemical I’ll refer to just as ‘fountain solution’. My glasses took the brunt of the spray but enough of it got in my eyes to cause intense burning. Bad scenario, right? Hell yes!

If it were not for my supervisor, who was in the room with me at the time, I may very well have wound up blinded by the chemical burns to my eyes. He immediately grabbed me and led me to a fresh water hose that he used to flush out my eyes. Obviously, it worked as I’m sitting here typing this story out now. Things could have turned out much worse though. I’m damn lucky.

My point here or goal, if you will, is not to curate a few “Oh no!” or “You poor guy” comments. Instead, I’m trying to tell you to stop taking things for granted because in a flash, it can all be taken away from you! Is it really THAT important to read an email while in traffic? Is it really THAT important to keep ignoring your wife and kids in favor of that report that MIGHT get you a promotion? What matters to you the most? Think about it.

Your sight, your health, everything and anything about you, can be gone in an instant. Nothing else really matters. Lose your sight and you never see your kids again. Lose your life and it’s all over. Pretty grim, isn’t it? What about losing someone else? Taking for granted that someone will always be in your life is like betting on a horse to solve your financial troubles. Not very smart, huh?

Take some time to mull it over. What really matters in your life? It’s amazingly short enough as it is already. Taking it for granted, or any part of it, is well, like cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Funny, what goes through your mind while flushing a chemical out of your eyes.

image credit: uncluttered white spaces