Seizure at the light
I had never seen anything like that before. The right side of his mouth looked like it was stretching towards his right ear. The veins on his neck were elevated and I just sat there...in my car…watching in a daze. The traffic light turned green but I couldn't get my foot to push the pedal.As I approached that light, I saw him towards my right at the street corner. White sleeveless undershirt and sky blue oversized basketball shorts. Something about him fixed my eyes as I approached the light. When I got to the light, I finally saw what was going on.
His hands and fingers were pointing straight down…all cylinders and muscles were firing as his right shoulder shot upwards as if desiring to meet the ear and his left shoulder lowered as if reaching to touch the ground…all muscles in full contraction. His palms were pointed backwards in a cupped position as if holding an invincible tennis ball he was going to pass to some invisible person behind him. He was shaking so hard that he was sweating profusely. It was so intense that it almost looked like he was jumping in place without leaving the ground. Broad daylight at a street corner in the Bronx, New York.
After about 2 FULL minutes of this torture, he manages to get a moment of relief and walks a few feet. At this point, I realized that I had stayed at a traffic light all through almost two full cycles of light changes. Amber, Red, Green, Amber, Red…and now it was Green again. His break gave me a break and I slowly accelerated past the light only to look in my rear view mirror and see that he had lost possession of his body again to the demons of neurology and/or spirit that seemed to come at will.
Just a few minutes before all that, I was in a funk. Yea…that happens to me too. Rarely, but it does happen. It was sudden and it came hard. I was kinda going through that moment of “my dreams are a bit farther away that I thought” “It’s going to take a miracle for me to get some of the things I want in my life” “I’m not seeing the results that match my effort yet”…Then I see the seizure episode and right there…in the middle of the road...in broad daylight at a street corner in the Bronx, New York, my funk melted away. It was like God was trying to help me put things in perspective. He was trying to let me know that I am doing soooo much better than I realize and that while I may not have control over the future, I should still appreciate the things I CAN control, that often matter even more than the things I can’t control. I drove away from that traffic light stronger than I was before I got to it. It’s amazing what can happen to us in 2 minutes if we focus on the right things and have the right perspective in life.
That very moment, I realized I had no excuse. I realized as I drove away that my job is not to whine, complain or pout. My job is to keep working. My job is to keep believing. My job is to make my day count. My job is to ensure that I am EXCELLENT AT MY CURRENT LEVEL. Leave the future alone. Stop trying to tame the future. Tame the present. Be so excellent in the present that the future has no choice but to yield the results you want. The future doesn’t bend to those who dream of it. It belongs to those who deserve it... who have laid great foundations of excellence and those who display through DILIGENCE, that they know the difference between magic and faith.
I needed that guy. He gave me exactly what I needed in that very moment. He gave me fresh perspective. He gave me NO EXCUSE. Tame the present; be excellent at your level. Do it and do it NOW.