one degree of separation,... a tribute to Jack Jablonski
When my husband was 18 or so, he was a reckless kid...always into trouble. Drinking, partying, racing fast around his small town and beyond in car. Then one bitter cold,tragic night in December, the car he was riding in slid on ice and rolled over 100 yards into the middle of a cornfield. One boy died, two were mortally wounded. My husband broke his neck in that accident...and faced a hard battle back to learn all he knew about being a functioning human being.
Jack Jablonski is a teenager from Minneapolis who, during a recent high school hockey game, was checked into the boards, severing his spinal cord. The horrific results are that he now is paralyzed. (Jablonski, 16, suffered a severed spinal cord at the neck and two fractured vertebrae after getting checked from behind in a junior-varsity game Friday against Wayzata in the Hockey Holiday Classic at St. Louis Park Recreation Center.)
One degree of separation. Water is water at 211 degrees; at 212 degrees, it becomes vapor. The opposite is true, too. It is water until at 31 degrees it begins to freeze, turning to ice.
What if...right? What if...
One teen, clearly irresponsible, now able to function as a grown man; another who always was responsible, will never walk again, though I know his spirit will not allow him to roll over and vegetate, either. The lessons learned...one hopes will be applied to the rest of his life as he clearly realizes that he is involved in a miracle--he is still alive--and thus, will pass that miracle on to all he meets...
People always ask,"why??" and in reality, I have no clue about why life happens as it does. Someone who has been searching for a lost child, suddenly finds her after twenty years, just in time before another tragedy takes the life of her only relative. Now he can be "there" for her as she picks up the remaining pieces of HER young life. And so the story goes on....someone somewhere is just one degree away from either winning it all...or losing the battle, yet proving that time is a healer and that life WILL move forward, if only in a different way.
Here is the link for Jack Jablonski. Many, many prayers go out to him...for he is a warrior facing a different battle now, but one that I know, with the support of his family and friends, he will win!
thank you...for caring!
ReplyDeleteit is so true..in life one doesn't always get that "second chance" and yet when it happens, wow! who can predict the future...we just have to go forward. I am certain that both boys in your story never thought they'd end up as they did...one out for fun, the other out for sport. Both lives were radically changed in a heartbeat. My prayers go out to the family of Jack..and to everyone facing an uphill battle.
ReplyDeleteGod...your link made me cry!!! You put so much unselfishness into your work...I love what you stand for...your heart is so big!!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
ReplyDeleteMy husband was disabled by a drunk driver. He cannot walk, and is confined to a wheelchair. Yet his spirit is strong. He does not condemn the one who has taken his life away...because, in his words, he still has his dignity, and no one can take that! It is BECAUSE of his indomitable spirit that I also do not judge....the peace that you send thru your writings is what I look forward to...and this blog especially for today...blew me away. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteyour support means so much to me...how can I say thank you....the tears I have shed are tears of healing and strength. I have watched this video and just bawled...here is someone who will have to use every ounce of his strength to come back...makes my world seem so petty...thanks, Rev. Diane!
ReplyDeletejust goes to show that we never should take a moment for granted, we don't know if we will ever get those moments back.
ReplyDeleteI keep going back to this picture..of a father who loves his son so much, and a son whose life is so radically altered, and I think, "wow, there but for the Grace of God..." you know? your stories are always so wonderfully told...but this one, I will remember for a long time. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteJust goes to show, it rains on the just and unjust, right? And yet it's what you do with the second chance you have been given. This blog with the link brought tears to my eyes....thank you for showing us what a miracle is like! One who learned to walk again---and one who has that chance to prove to the world he will not be beaten!
ReplyDelete