BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

Perhaps you remember the song.  In was written by Bruce Springsteen and was on his first album in January of 1973.  Then three years later, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band took it to the top of the charts again.  But, being blinded by the light has a personal meaning to me.

Everyone who’s read anything I’ve written about my childhood knows that I believe I had the happiest childhood ever!  For that I’m very thankful!  Everyone was not so blessed.

The first orphan that I knew personally was a friend and classmate at George Elementary School.  Our seats were close together.  It impacted me deeply when I first learned that he had no living mother and father.  That truth of that sad fact was far beyond my protected scope of security and  understanding.

His parents had been killed when, driving a night. They had been BLINDED BY THE LIGHT of an approaching vehicle with headlights on high-beam… and they ran off the road and hit a tree.  

I’m sure the other drive didn’t intend to kill my classmate’s parents.  But they did.  And why?  This ‘accident’ may have been unintentional, but is was… avoidable.  The simple act of giving a stranger a few precious seconds of consideration would have made all the difference in the world… and in the world of my George School classmate.

The problem is… this very scenario is something that I see acted out countless times every single day when the sun goes down… and automobile lights go on.  It’s as if few of the other vehicles on the road actually have low-beam capability! 

It’s a ‘battle’ I cannot win.  So why worry about it?  There’s nothing I can do.  Nothing.  

So, do I give in, and simply put ( and keep ) MY headlights on high-beam also, as if to say, YOU WIN!  I’ll JOIN YOU IN YOUR FOLLY!  No.  I can’t do that.  That’s not me.  I guess I’ll just prod along, wearing my consideration for others on my shoulders as if it’s a burden.  It’s a good thing that it’s not heavy.  

Who am I kidding?  I don’t see simple consideration as being a burden. It’s a duty. It’s also a right. And… a privilege.  

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MIRACLE BABY

For the first time in numerous years, this morning I had cause to be on Hanging Moss Road in Northwest Jackson.  It brought back many memories, and one especially bizarre one!  

My high school girlfriend at the time was close friends with one of our  classmates, Bonnie Crumbley, who’s family lived on Hanging Moss.  I was in their home numerous times beginning from ’57.  During one visit, Bonnie’s mom told us a truly bizzare story about Bonnie.

Mrs. Crumbley told us than one day in 1941, she was suddenly overcome by severe stomach pains.  The pain simply wouldn’t go away, so thinking that it surely must be a stomach ulcer or possibly appendicitis… she was taken to the hospital.

The doctors told her that she was IN LABOR, to which she replied that NO she wasn’t… and couldn’t be… because she was NOT pregnant.  But yet, she was, and had been for some time!  Soon the huge suprize that was Bonnie was delivered!

True story! 

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