Decisions

Tracking decisions back to a single instance, a certain piece of information or someone who I met is amazing. My next thought is always “What if that moment never happen? Where would I be?” Sometime I think wow; I am in this moment because of that moment.

When I was 16 or 17 years old, I was fixing an exhaust system on my ’85 Subaru Wagon. Back then, it seemed cars rusted out before they wore out.

I was on my back under the car working on a rusted exhaust system. I needed a hand held grinding wheel to cut off some stubborn bolts. My neighbor had the tool I needed. He always loaned it to me. I went over to borrow it; he asked me if I had a face shield. I told him no, I had used it many times before without one and still was alive to talk about it.

After leaving his place, I began thinking a face shield won’t be such a bad idea. I went to the local hardware store and picked up the face shield an a few bolts to replace the rusted ones I was about to cut off.

Back under the car, I was hard at work cutting rusted bolts off my exhaust system. I don’t remember exactly what happened next, but I stopped to see my progress. The grinder’s trigger must have been still pulled, because when I moved the grinder from obstructing my view. With the grinder still going full throttle, the grinding wheel made contact with the floorboard of the car. Bouncing down from the floorboard it hit my shield, cutting through the 1/8 inch plastic shield. In the quarter of second, it took me to release the trigger the wheel had completely cut through the plastic face shield. Without the face shield, that would have been my face.

If it weren’t for my neighbor telling me I should buy a face shield, I might not be able to see. I still have the damaged face shield. It reminds me the importance of a right decision.