Why Me?

"There is nothing more exhiliarating than to be shot at without result." Winston Churchill

A dismal diagnosis at the doctor's office, the pink slip at work, a break-up, can all cause a cry to go out to the universe, "Why meeeeeeeee?" How can it be that we see misery and unfortunate circumstances all around us, yet we somehow expect to be exempt? We may engage in magical thinking, that if we are good people, follow all the rules, attend church every Sunday, we can escape the common miseries of life. We are surprised and not a little indignant as we ask, "Why me?"

Hospitals are filled with sick people. Why NOT me? Unemployment in this economy has hit record numbers. Why not me? Lovers go their separate ways all the time. Why not me? Bad stuff is a normal part of life. It comes and it goes. We can save ourselves a lot of pain if we accept that fact. Then take the energy that goes into bemoaning our sad fate into finding creative ways to solve the problem, or at least cope with it in a healthy way.

Have you ever thought about all the bad stuff that never happened to you? The first time this idea hit me was one winter evening many years ago when I was working late. I rarely worked overtime, but this night I stayed an extra thirty minutes to finish something important. It was freezing, snow was falling, the parking lot was icy and the roads were not in great shape. I carefully pulled out onto the road that would lead me home, and soon saw the bright lights of emergency vehicles ahead. All the lanes were blocked. It looked like a serious accident. I turned around and took another route to get safely home, and learned from the news later that it was indeed a very bad situation, with some seriously injured and one fatality. Who knows, but if I would have left work at my usual time, that might have been me. While I felt very sad for those involved, there was a certain sense of relief and gratitude for the bullet I dodged.

Susan