September 12, 2022

Reflection

DEATH AND THE DOMINO EFFECT

First it was the phone call: "Dad died yesterday afternoon at 2 o'clock."

"Of course," I said, "I'll do the funeral, but first I'll have to make some switches."

I had to get someone to take the 12:10 Mass for me. 

Harry agreed. I'll take the 6:45 on Thursday morning for him.

Next I had to get someone to take the funeral I had on Thursday  at 10 A.M.

At these funerals, we all have to make these switches. We have to re-schedule.

Every time when I'm driving and I see 10 or 15 cars in a funeral procession, I'm looking at a lot of rescheduling.

Then for the family of the person who died, there's the removal of the person's stuff - the tidbits of a person's life - the trinkets and the tokens.

Death certainly has a domino effect.

Then the realization - life has a zillion domino effects.

A word - a compliment - a curse - a complaint - can trigger the tapping against a whole string of dominoes.

Wounds can cause surprise repercussions.

Being late - being early - a smile - changing lanes - not taking care of one's car - can all cause - unforeseen results.

Does the waves from a  boat off Africa - eventually hit the beach at Rio?

I wake up when the guy who lives next to me closes his room loudly.

My words - written or spoken - have implications.

How about my thoughts? 

How about my attitudes?