Letter From America: The Rocking Chair
...It was my wife’s hospital room and she was in recovery after having knee surgery. She was sedated but still in pain, and I was moaning to myself about a rocking chair. Suddenly it hit me that of all the people in the world, apart from my worry about Gay and her recovery, never a sure fire thing at her age and with her medical history, I was among the most blessed...
That rocking chair made Ronnie Bray appreciate his many blessings.
I was sat in a rocking chair. Not a ‘rocking-chair’ but a chair that rocked because the floor was uneven or else the legs were of disparate sizes. Whatever the cause, it rocked, and it bothered me. Chairs are not supposed to rock and when the place of rocking is a multi-million dollar hospital facility that is no more than four years old it is not expected to happen either because buildings should have level floors and the quality of furniture ought to be of such quality that it didn’t rock. However, it did and that bothered me.
Then I looked at my surroundings. It was my wife’s hospital room and she was in recovery after having knee surgery. She was sedated but still in pain, and I was moaning to myself about a rocking chair. Suddenly it hit me that of all the people in the world, apart from my worry about Gay and her recovery, never a sure fire thing at her age and with her medical history, I was among the most blessed.
At that time New Zealand had been hit with an earthquake, the suffering of the people of Palestine continued unabated, Pakistan had been hit by devastating floods killing thousands, the East Coast of the USA was having unusually heavy death-dealing winter storms, millions of the earth’s poorest were starving, suffering from the ravages of disease for which no help was forthcoming, people were losing their homes to the ravages of nature and an ill assortment of human financial institutions and their nefarious practices, and I was upset by a rocking chair!
Sometimes it is good that we are reminded that our moans and carps are petty, arising most often out of our erroneous sense of entitlements that tell us that we ought not to suffer as other mortals because we are somehow exceptional and different and ought to be dealt the best hands by virtue of our self-elevation above the common herd.
It is at time such as that when it is beneficial for us to be reminded that we are not part of a special class, and that while one person suffers any kind of discomfort, anywhere, we ought not to wish ourselves free from pain, disease, foreclosure, and that when placed alongside the lot of those that are alive today but who tomorrow will be cast into the grave before their time, a rocking chair is a trifling matter.
I thank God that He reminded me that my sufferings were as nothing compared with the real unfortunates of the world, and trust that He always will remind me of them whenever I feel a petty moan coming on.
Copyright © 2010 – Ronnie Bray
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