Cars seemed to move like slugs that day. An unsuspecting wife sat sizzling in her car one idle aftenoon. As the minutes pass, and then the hours, the frustrated wife leaves her vehicle to inquire about the traffic situation.
Police officer: The wait will not be much longer, mame. Please be patient.
"There must have been some terrible accident" she thought to herself.
As the traffic began to move, she saw the Lougheed overpass completely removed. All that was left, were the two pillar staircases that held up the narrow, but heavy pathway. As she drove by, she was saddened that someone might have been hurt and perhaps, someone had lost a loved one.
...When her husband did not return home that evening, she received the news and realized that she was that person she was hurting for earlier. It was her who had lost a love one, and it was her husband who was lost. As she sat in the traffic, her world had come crashing down and didn't even know it. Her husband was dying, as she sat just down the street unsuspecting. And with that, the man she loves had slipped away.
On Friday, a new guy moved into our department at work. As our work volume steadily increases, he accompanied my co-worker and I in quality control. The day began as normal. He underwent training, then got some practice. As he was finalizing reports, he received a phone call from the front desk telling him that he has a visitor. He thought this was quite odd, and before he left, he told us that he had some questions about some reports and that he would like to receive some advice before he finalized them, but they can wait until he comes back.
"I'll be right back," he says. And with that, he smiled with appreciation and left the room. Moments later, our supervisor comes in and whispers that he is not coming back today because he just recieved the news that his father just died in a car accident. My co-worker and I divided the work that we had assigned him and got back to work.
I barely knew the new guy and yet, my heart was very heavy after he left. My attempts to keep working were in vain as I could not take my thoughts off this tradgedy that had just happened. As I sat at my desk reviewing reports, I thought about how his world had just fallen appart, how upon hearing the news, it was as if the darkest shadow had been cast on him, how nothing would ever be the same for him again, how he will come back to work someday a different person.... just a bit more empty.
Life is full of extremes. I think this is what people mean when they say
I've died and gone to heaven" or "I've been to hell and back". There is an underlying misperception that life can only bring you so high and can only bring you so low. The mundane routine of everyday living makes us believe that nothing can ever make us as happy as heaven; and nothing can destroy us like hell. We come to believe that these extremes do not exist in our life on earth. When the extreme comes like a theif in the night, we are unprepared.
When does a joy become too much to contain? And when does a burden get too heavy to carry?
Sorrow came to visit us today
It was the longest day, was the loneliest day
Sorry came to steal our hope away...
This mountain's high, too high for us.... too high...
Sorrow came quicker than the fire
It was the longest day, was the loneliest day
I feel your hand, the warmth, your sweetest smile
But you slipped away through the great divide.
This mountain's high...
...too high for us...
...too high
- Mountains High, Deliriou5
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