God is Punishing You

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February sucks. The temperatures are low. There's ice everywhere. I have to walk out in it.

I headed to the first site of the day on Thursday morning. A worker that I've known for quite some time was walking ahead of me on a concrete pad. He sort of stumbled as his boots met the icy ground.

"Why don't you get some ice melt down on this pad?" I asked. "You're stumbling around like the drunken bastard that you normally are on the weekend. Look where you're going. Get your stupid hands out of your pockets."

I had just finished the sentence. He sort of laughed and so did his coworkers. I took two more steps.

AND THEN

The ground came up to meet me.

I hit the concrete so hard, and with such force that my head snapped back and the back of my hardhat made direct contact. So did my entire left side.

The side with the bad hip.

I rolled over and thought about popping straight up.

But I couldn't.

The only two thoughts in my head were:

1). "I'm hurt."

and

2). "I'm so f&*Ing old."

I rolled to my side. A couple of guys came skating over, including the guy who I had just made fun of.

"You see, God punished you for being a smart ass," he said.

He offered his hand to me.

Another worker chimed in.

"God couldn't possibly punish him enough for being a smart ass," the second guy said. "If God worked that way he couldn't walk three steps without falling down."

I was helped to my feet.

I stumbled towards the car.

In all my years I have never hit the ground with such force. Within a half an hour the hip was throbbing.

Could it truly be that God is looking to have the last laugh?

Does He punish those who make fun of others?

There's a joke here somewhere and it's on me.

If God is gonna' drop me to the concrete for a simple put down I better rethink a couple of things.

I certainly gotta' change my ways.

Comments

Cliff Fazzolari said…
Just noticed that my first post of the week was "a graceful fall." God does have a sense of humor.
08 February, 2013
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