pinions of buddy don: grace of god in a small worl

thays a feller that wurks on the same floor i do in a big bildin of a major wall street firm. i been seein this feller in the halls n the mens room fer a cuple years now, but we hadnt never spoke to each other till the last few weeks. twernt nuthin personull, jes that we dint do the same kinda wurk n dint have no real reason to speak.

whenever that tsunami hit over in the indian ocean, thangs changed twixt us on a counta how he n his fambly -- wife n three kids -- gut cawt in it. he writ a lil email bout it n that made the rouns lack crazy. i wuz amazed to read it n even more whenever sumbidy showd me his pitcher. nex time i run into im in the mens room, i tole him bout how i had dun red his report on gittin cawt in it. i tole him i wuz thankful he hadnt lost nobidy, even ifn thay wuz moments when he wuz underwater n dint know whar his wife kids wuz.

he splaind lots of thangs bout whut had happend. turnt out he had dun been in therpy fer his lifelong water phobia. he had always been a'scairt of gittin drownded in a flood. he had jes gut outta years of that therpy whenever he n his fambly deecided to take a trip to india, witch hes frum sri lanka.

he sed fer sum reason, even tho twernt part of thar plan, they deecided to take a quick trip over to sri lanka, jes fer a cuple days. the plan wuz how they wood git on thar flite back home on christmus day.

but thay wuz a glitch of sum kind n thar flite wuz deelayed jes one day. n thats how he cum to be near drownded in the tsunami.

whenever ye here a story lack that, ye dont hardly know whut ye orta say bout it. i shore dint have nuthin to offer ceptn open ears. i wood say back to him whut he had tole me in differnt wurds, manely to make shore i wuz gittin his points. that gut im to talkin till i had larnt bout his phobia n bout the tiny chain of coincidents that led to him n his fambly gittin cawt in the flood waters n bout how awful he felt fer survivin when thay wuz dead bodies everwhar he looked. he even felt awful bout how everbidy in his fambly made it, even tho he dint wont nun of em to suffer atall, jes that he gut a gilty feelin fer bein so lucky when thay wuz so minny otherns that dint have such good luck.

i gut to thankin bout everthang he sed n cum to real eyes the fact that we is all hangin by the same threads of coincidents.

now evertime he sees me, he stops to talk n finely tuther day he ast me my name n i ast him his n we made friends.

but all i been able to thank bout is how ceptn fer the grace of god, i coulda been cawt up in such a flood. it also sprized me to larn whut a small worl we live in, whar sumthin that happens on tuther side of the worl could affeck sumbidy that wurks on my verr floor.

yesterdy i run into im agin. i dint know ifn we had much to say, but he wonted to talk n i gut big empty ears fer his tales n caint hardly git a nuff. he sed he had been a'wontin to say sumthin else to me, so i ast whut wuz it. he sed i shouldnt never fergit that wurk n money n posishun n whutever ye wonta cunsidder importunt dont hardly mean nuthin. thonly thang that matters is luv n them ye luvs. this wuz a mazin statement on a counta how hard this feller has wurked to git to the top. now he sez he caint hardly see the point in all his strivin.

as i walked away, i wuz thinkin bout how rite he is. it made lots of my lil hard times seem lack nuthin. it made lots of the thangs i wurry bout seem lack pure indulgents. i had been a'sayin to myself bout how ceptn fer the grace of god, i coulda been in his shoes. so could we all.

but whut i thought the most, after he had tole me nuthin matters but luv n them ye luvs is how that lil conversayshun wuz a bit of gods grace deecendin on me, proof agin that god continues to bless the undeservin.