| Friday, February 11, 2005 |
| Where There's Smoke . . . Part 2 |
Blogging has been a valuable learning experience for me. Like today God taught me a lesson and now you get to hear about it. But first, if you haven't yet, you need to read my previous post about cigarette smoking and responsibilty in order to understand what this post is about.
While I was out and about doing hospital calls this morning I got a call from the church telling me about a guy in the Intensive Care Unit at a local hospital. I walk in the ICU and there's an older gentleman lying half unconscious in a hospital bed with six or seven tubes running in and out of him. What was his problem? Severe emphysema. Now I don't know for sure, but I've visited people in the hospital before who've had it and almost all of them developed it as a result of smoking. A nurse was there treating him, using some sort of vacuum to suction stuff out of his throat. And the words of my blog post that I had typed hours earlier were running through my head.
Now thinking back to my other post: is it this guy's fault that he's suffering from this disease? Yes. Would I have the guts to call him out on it standing next to his hospital bed? No. Then why would I type about it? Because that's how I am. I'm a wuss. And that's how you probably are too. We're hard core about issues and stances that we have, at least until we come face to face with it. It's fun to be opinionated about things, until you have to deal with it in the flesh. "Get a job" I mutter under my breath. Then I meet the homeless man in person. I'll talk sports and bash on a steroid taking pro-athlete, but if our roads ever converge, I'll probably suck up to the guy. Yep, I'm a turd.
So sorry if I came across with a little edgy in that last post. As much as I want to be cool like that, I'm really not the guy. And I know I'll spout off like that again, and end up right where I am now- prying my foot out of my mouth. Humans are more than hypothetical situations. They have names. They're people lying in a hospital bed wondering what's become of their life. I'll try harder to remember that next time. |
yet another musing of steve-o @ 5:39:00 PM  |
|
-->
|
|
|
|
