hospital Or as they say in the UK, I'm back from hospital, And why do they do that anyway.
My left arm they operated on is in a sling and I'm zonked out on some resally nice pain killers.
So no full on blogging from me.
Today's post is from encore post from Saturday, March 9, 2013, taken from a Toastmasters speech I had given called :
"A Miracle Every Day"
If you were to ask Lois Lane, intrepid investigative reporter for the Metropolis Daily Planet, what the most annoying part of her day is, she would tell you, "Being thrown from the top of the Daily Planet building by super villains."
Here's what happens: some bad guy with a super power or a super weapon or a super gimmick thinks he's going to take over Metropolis...
Or the United States...
Or the Earth....
Or the UNIVERSE!
But first he has to take out the Man of Steel, SUPERMAN! And to do that, he has to lure Superman to his doom. And the best way to do that is to threaten one of his friends.
So here comes Capt. Doom Man or whatever in the offices of the Daily Planet. Now he has any number of people he can threaten: Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Clark Ke-
Where the heck is Clark Kent? Always, whenever something is going down, Clark can never be found.
Sigh! It doesn't matter. All these villains play from the same play book: it's got to be the damsel in distress. And there is no better "damsel" to pick than "Superman's girlfriend", Lois Lane.
First of all, that whole "Superman's girlfriend" is a misnomer, something that got started by Cat Grant in her gossip column. But that whole "relationship" (and that's using that term loosely) ain't all it's cracked up to be, OK?
But Mr. Capt. Doom Pants could not care less about that. "A-ha! Superman's precious Lois Lane in peril will bring the Man of Steel running...to his DOOM! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Oh, like he's the first person to ever come up with that little gem.
So he grabs Lois, takes her to the top of the Daily Planet building and hurls her off of it.
The first time this happen, it scared the living daylights out of Lois.
Flailing and screaming in the open sky with the very hard concrete foundations of Metropolis over a hundred stories down, Lois knew, KNEW she was going to die. She closed her eyes in desperation but guess what? Gravity still works even if you're not looking at it.
But as she arced thru the sky to her inevitable doom...Look! Up in the sky! Ta da! It's SUPERMAN! A streak of red and blue, he hurtles thru the air, gracefully plucks Lois from her deadly decent, gently lowers her to the ground and then shoots back up in the sky where he wallops the tar out of Doctor Death Shorts. Lois could only stand there in shock, in awe of the wonderful miracle that had just occurred.
The second time this happened, Lois knew, KNEW that there was no way she could be THAT lucky two times in a row and this time she was going to die for sure. But wait! Look! Up in the sky! Ta da! It's SUPERMAN! And the miracle happened again.
By the 37th time, Lois was starting to sense a pattern. Look....up in the sky...Superman...and Lois is saved. Hooray.
By the 584th time, it is just one more annoyance on Lois' schedule.
"Let's see, wake up, exercise, grab some breakfast, e-mail that write up to Perry to pick apart for 2 dozen punctuation errors, schedule an interview with Mayor Berkowitz, research the funding of Lex Luthor's new power plant, get thrown off the building by a super villain, pick up dry cleaning, drive Lucy to the airport......"
The fact that an impossible man from another world in a red cape can fly thru the air and save her life is no longer a miracle....because it happens every day.
But Lois is not alone in this regard.
Consider ourselves and the world in which we live. Hurtling thru cold and lifeless space, we live on a ball teeming with life. Our world turns on its axis and brings the sun up every day. Whether you believe we are here by cosmic chance or divine providence, this is nothing less than a miracle. But because it happens every day, we do not recognize this as a miracle.
Indeed, the sun comes up and for too many of us, its just another damn day.
And who can blame you if you feel this way? Somewhere someone is suffering....
Somewhere someone is dying...
Somewhere someone wonders if there is such a thing as love....
Somewhere someone is wondering how to put food on the table.
But for all the dark shadows, there is still light, joy, life, love, hope. Somewhere someone has found happiness....
Somewhere someone has just been born....
Somewhere someone looks into another's eyes and discovers to their amazement that yes, there is love.....
Somewhere someone has just been reminded they have friends who will will help them when they are down.
Sometimes its easy to see; other times you have to look really hard to find it. But it is there...every day.
Open your eyes. Look, up in the sky! The sun rises yet again, a miracle!
Every day.
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