I was walking through the mall with 10,000 other people between Christmas and New Year when I heard someone call my name. There was a gentleman sitting on a bench who beckoned me over. It wasn’t until I sat down that I realized he was someone I had known for a long time but, to use an old phrase, he looked like he had been rode hard and put away wet.
We exchanged pleasantries and greetings of the seasons then he said, “I have a story for your column.” I always enjoy this start to a conversation because I enjoy a good story. Besides, next week will mark the start of the ninth year of filling this little spot on the editorial page, so I never turn down ideas.
He cleared his throat. “I want to tell you how your life can change in five seconds,” he began.
He lives alone and was preparing a meal, a daily ritual we all perform many times during the week. He turned on the front burner of his stove then remembered the package he wanted was in the cupboard above the stove.
“I leaned over and reached up and then realized my sweater was on fire. The polyester sweater had touched the burner and ignited. I turned to the sink, turned on the tap and splashed water, saving my hands and face but when I looked down, my pant legs and one of my slippers were on fire.”
The story fast forwards to two days later when his realtor found him on the floor of his bathroom suffering from second and third degree burns to his neck, chest and legs.
“My realtor had come by a couple of times, then got worried I wasn’t answering. When he heard moaning, he got in and found me.”
He was taken to Royal Columbian then to VGH, and he has nothing but praise for the people who came into his life to repair his body. Skin grafts, scar tissue and therapy will take time to heal, but the event changed his outlook on life.
“I look at my life differently now. I have realized what is important and what isn’t and I know how precious health, family and friends are. I have some healing to do but my life has changed.”
Isn’t it strange that all too often we have to have a near death experience or hit rock bottom before we get that big cosmic smack up the side of the head to wake us up? It has been said that there are more people converted to Christianity in jail cells and emergency rooms than there ever were in church.
There are some good life lessons in my friend’s story. Who checks on the people you know who live alone? If you live alone, do you have someone who checks on you?
What about those five-second decisions? Standing on the top step of the step ladder, speeding up to make it through the yellow light, cutting down the tree in the back yard, throwing “just a little” gasoline on the fire. Do you really need an electrician to fix that short?
In my career as a first responder, I met many folks who made that wrong split second decision that changed their life or the lives of others.
Take a lesson from my friend, and find what’s important in your life. At least that’s what McGregor says.
