By Edwin Cooney
At 12:05 on Saturday, December 12th, 2020, as I was working on that week's column to you, our microwave suddenly caught fire after my wife Marsha moved it from its usual place on the left counter of our sink onto our stovetop while she cleaned the space under the microwave. At her call that something was amiss, I hurried into the kitchen and stood before the burning microwave. Marsha had already unplugged it so we couldn't imagine why it continued burning. After about a minute or two, Marsha called 911 and the fire company was on its way. As the trucks pulled in, the microwave began making a series of popping sounds and we evacuated the apartment as fire personnel came in. Immediately, the fire personnel began shouting for tenants to leave the building and we feared that the fire was progressing beyond our apartment. However, it soon became clear that such wasn't the case, although the cause, the costs, and the consequences were uncertain to us. What had happened still is a bit of a mystery to me, but it does make sense. When the microwave was moved onto the stove, the back part of it came in contact with the knob that controls the burner. Subsequently, we were literally cooking the microwave just as we would boil water or heat up other food on our stovetop. Had I known the stove was on, I'd have turned it off, but I didn't realize such was the case. Perhaps a sighted person would have realized what was happening, but we just didn't notice the cause. Believe me, we'll forever keep this instance in mind when we purchase, utilize and clean around a new microwave!
In my mind and, to some extent, Marsha’s, everything in our thoughts was pre and post 12:05 on Saturday, December 12th, 2020. It seemed clear to us in the wake of the incident that our lives might never be the same.
Of course, both of us can vividly recall other much more serious and lasting instances that have shifted our lives including the births of our children during our previous relationships, the passing of Marsha's father four years ago, our respective divorces, along with the joyful and tragic instances that have happened to others close to us.
History is loaded with instances beyond the anticipation of most of us. Surely our Founding Fathers couldn't have anticipated all of the headaches the people would face in a newly independent nation such as The War of 1812 with Great Britain or even the Civil War, the cause of which was largely due to our own treatment of a significant group of people we had imported to enslave. (Jefferson called slavery our national "fire bell in the night!”)
All of us have experienced joyful and tragic instances in our lives. Our individual task is to strive to recognize both the causes and effects of these instances so that we have a better chance of managing them when they occur.
The most difficult and ultimately devastating tragic instances are those we could have avoided had we modified our behavior before they occurred.
Neither civil law, international law, religious belief or faith, individual or protective wisdom can protect you or me from the forces of nature that can break our hearts. Still, awareness of how our personal activities affect the lives of people we've never even met can potentially modify the severity that those same people will experience in their personal lives.
I believe that the “Serenity prayer” ultimately reflects the surest pathway toward avoiding the "slings and arrows” of outrageous fortune!
May our God-granted intelligence focus our attention towards those attitudes and behaviors that will make the most of all of the opportunities open to us!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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