Most likely, you're shirking a responsibility to a great friend.

[Bill Cady]

Collision of two life forces

If you take into account some of the varied meanings of the word “collision”, the title to this piece could lead to a discussion of three of my four marriages. The first one, my “training marriage”, never really had any ugly spots. It plateaued at boring, idled there until it “matured” at five years, then went “poof” in two weeks. The others gave a whole new meaning to the term “mercurial”.

However, those less than tasteful topics can all wait for another day, which may well bring a sigh of relief on your part.

Once again the new vista to my life, a resurgence of my TV watching, as I did in years past before I became homeless in 2005, has prompted me to write again. I’m not even sure if it was from a show I watched or a commercial. All I know is hearing it sparked this idea, so I prepared the setup form yesterday, knowing I’d get at this one as soon as possible.

Being a fiction writer, as I am, one might think it would inspire a novel. While some of my earlier blog posts were almost that long, I won’t give you 70,000 words on this one. The knee jerk reaction to that phrase for many would be to think of a love story where boy meets girl and immediate skyrockets fill an inky night sky, followed by a stream of problems designed to prevent fruition. Then, after nearly endless battles to stay together, the couple overcomes adversity. They walk off into the sunset, two lovers holding hands. Or it ends in a steamy kiss with the world crumbling around them. Or they’re left standing atop a tall hill looking down on the devastation of all the idiots who fought to keep them apart.

Yuck! Maybe that’s why I don’t write romance stories, or bodice rippers. Sheesh!

Let’s try this as a prompter to reset the scene in your mind. Picture the one person who’s had the greatest impact on your life. Assuming you’re over 30 years of age, I doubt there’s been more than one. If you think that one person is someone of the opposite gender for whom you felt-still feel a supernova of love, unless your name is Alex Irving or Rick Hodges, you’re probably destined for a massive disappointment somewhere down the road. Those guys are the only two I can think of out of the thousands and thousands of people I’ve met who have any proof it works that way.

Oddly enough, those are also the top two people who fit that description in my life.

To make a very accurate guess, if I was married to either one, (discounting the sex thing, which doesn’t really enter into the point I’m making), I’d be guilty of murder by now. Just living in the same house with either would certainly drive me to distraction.

No, I’m talking about someone who made a mark in my life. Someone who showed he was meaningful and made my life better by being a part of it. Overall, maybe based on length and frequency of contact, Alex shows up in first place. It doesn’t mean Rick was a long distant second, but persistency and volume speak loudly.

I met both men while I was homeless, 2005-2009. With seemingly no other motive, both have been there for me when I needed ‘em, and even when I didn’t. Each has simply been there. Contributing. Caring. Concerned. Always trying to be helpful, usually being that way, albeit both have missed the mark on rare occasions.

What I offer by citing these two heroes from my past and present is a twofold suggestion for you. First, simply because it’s really a moral obligation for each of us, find a way to publicly thank that person or persons who’ve been so effective as to be a cause of changing your life. Second, do whatever you need to do so you can become someone of that significance to some other human being.

It’s probably accurate to say, if you haven’t reached that level of accomplishment yet in life, you haven’t fulfilled your purpose for being here on this Earth.

I’m just sayin’.

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