Saturday, June 22, 2013

"I'm Just A Soul Whose Intentions Are Good"*

On the day that the top news story on The Today Show was the death of James Gandolfini, I saw these two items on various news feeds:

Grayson Clamp, a three year old boy who was able to hear for the first time.

A new drug for the treatment of leukemia.

That evening, I watched and participated with a group of people as we assembled 12,000 meals for Stop Hunger Now.

That morning, while on the way to work, I watched a person in a pickup with a trailer attached to the back, maneuver the trailer into a parking spot by expertly turning the steering wheel of his pickup in the right direction while traveling in a reverse direction.

Growing up on a farm, I did the same with farm machinery attached to the tractor I was driving. I often wondered then (and even the other day), if I had everything in perfect alignment, why would I need to turn the steering wheel at all?

Finally, I realized that all things are affected by even the most minute variance.As shown in slide 5 of this link (a great illustration how cancer starts and "works'), one million cancer cells are the size of a pinhead and are undetectable. It is not until the the cancer contains one billion cells that it becomes detectable as a lump about the size of a grape. However, it all begins with one small variance. In the example of cancer, one small variance creates a negative situation.

But all small variances don't have to be that way.

With that said, I wonder what today would have been like if the lead story on The Today Show on Thursday would have been the story about Grayson Clamp?

I wonder what tomorrows would have been like for people who are hungry and need food?

"Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood."*

* Lyrics from, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," by The Animals

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