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Moments That Turn On An Eyelash…
Often I say about many situations, “we walk on the edge of a knife”. Events are set to fall to one side or the other with an equal chance at either. I am not a believer in a pre-determined fate, but I also often think heavily of author Thornton Wilder’s wonderful 1927 book, “The Bridge of San Luis Rey”, about a Franciscan Monk, Father Juniper, who watches the collapse of an ancient woven grass bridge over a chasm. Five people who are seemingly unrelated plunge to their death. The pious monk is consumed with finding what common thread in their lives brings them to this point in time, where they meet their death at the same moment. Was this their fate? Predetermined by God? Could any event have prevented this exact happening in their lives? The book won a Pulitzer Prize and has been in print since being published.
The event that prompted my most recent thoughts of this book were caused by an almost horrific event that I watched happen as if in slow motion. Since that time well over a year ago, I have not been able to erase the images from my mind. Describing the event takes much longer than the time it took to unfold before my horrified and unbelieving eyes, and I know that I will carry the images and thoughts of “What might have been” in my mind the rest of my life.
I was in the passenger seat as my husband and I waited to make a left turn at a traffic light at a…
