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SAVED
BY A VOWEL
As
I write this Hurricane Arlene is wreaking its share of havoc somewhere in
the
Atlantic
.
It is not expected to be one of those major hurricanes that cause
tremendous physical and emotional damage to people and places along its
seemingly random path. Thank God for that. My wife also is thankful. No
matter what damage Arlene causes, at least it is being called “Arlene”
and not “Arlena”. As Vince Mills reminded me, she’s been saved by a
vowel.
Of course Vince and I are lucky when it comes to the naming of
hurricanes. Whoever does the naming can call every “V” Vincent and
every “W” William and there will never be an actual one named after
either one of us. We are saved not only by a vowel but by a lot of
consonants as well, “V” and “W” being the primary ones. If any
hurricane season gets to one named after us, well, I hate to imagine what
the
Atlantic
and
Gulf
Coasts
will look like afterwards.
Life is like that, isn’t it? Sometimes we are saved by a vowel,
saved by the bell, saved because of some piece of dumb luck over which we
have absolutely no control. The opposite is just as true. Sometimes we are
in the wrong place at the wrong time and we get dinged or worse. Sometimes
we are in control of events and sometimes the events control us. Sometimes
all we can do is, as they say, “go with the flow”. (Does that
expression date me?)
There is no doubt that we would all like to be able to blame
someone or something for the bad that happens to us and, even more so, for
the bad that we do. It would make life a whole lot easier and guilt much
less burdensome. Sometimes there are those scapegoats out there and it is
comforting to pass on to them the responsibility for what has happened.
Sometimes we have no choice but to accept the blame.
My wife is breathing easier not only because Arlene does not seem
to be a major hurricane but also because she does not have to take her
share of ribbing that would come her way in any case had she not been
saved by a vowel. I do feel somewhat sorry for the Andrews and Carols and
other head-of-the-alphabet people who have to pray each year that a
hurricane is not named after them; and, if it is, that it does little or
no damage to life, limb and property.
The truth is, if we would take the time to reflect on the matter,
we are saved by a vowel or a bell or whatever more often than we realize.
For whatever reason God seems to save us from ourselves even when we do
not deserve it, but not always. It is because of those “not always”
times that we need to be honest enough to thank God for being so blessed
and humble enough to accept responsibility for those events for which we
are truly at fault.
Given our human nature and given our often oblivious disregard of
the truth neither giving thanks nor accepting blame comes as readily and
as easily from our lips and our heart as they should.
WJP
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