Think About it -- Tragedy Changes our Trajectory
- Think About It Think About it -- Tragedy Changes our Trajectory
Most of us have seen how tragedy changes people.
When I was young, my best friend’s dad killed himself. Then we entered High School and my friend became obsessed with fighting. He lived to fight and was good at it.
I didn’t like what I was seeing my friend become. Then he discovered drugs, and we drifted far apart.
Four years after his dad’s suicide, just out of High School, I saw him one day at the Sonic Drive-in. He had dropped out of school and got married. He asked if I had an 8-track player in my truck. I did. He told me he had something I needed to hear.
He hopped in, and we headed down the street with our sodas. He put in Simon & Garfunkel and manipulated the track-change feature while encouraging me to listen to a specific song. It came to “Bridge Over Troubled Waters.” We neither said anything as we listened to the words.
When it was over, he began working the track-change feature again. The whole time he was banging between tracks he was asking, “did you really listen to the words man?” Then he would play it again.
I took him back to his truck at Sonic. A week after that ride, he committed suicide. I was hard and self-centered in those days, and it was just a thing. I didn’t even go see his mom or tell my girlfriend (now my wife) till years later.
I got married, had children and became a Christian in the three years that followed that ride. It wasn’t until some years later, hearing that song come on the radio, that I gave it much thought. Then I cried as I remembered my friend saying, “did you really listen to the words man?” I really wish I had listened to what my friend was saying.
Think About it
I’ve seen tragedy destroy people. I’ve also seen what tragedy does to overcomers.
Those who face “that day” (the one marking the “before and after moment” in their life) have a decision to make.
Some of us have had a few “that days.” I am determined to make the most of every day after.
How will it affect your trajectory?
Head winds produce either resistance or lift, depending on your perspective and how you’re built.
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