Monday, April 13, 2009

On Second Thought

Have you ever had a really good thought, after it would could have made a difference?

Well I sure did, Friday evening on the way home from the Unity Service. I had been asked to deal with the physical suffering of Jesus. I researched the observations of the Mayo Clinic and others to formulate a graphic description of death-by-crucifixion. I had organized my thoughts into an outline with flow and even a relief-valve personal reference in the middle. You can't assault the human mind with gore without overstressing it to the point of shut-down.

So in the middle of discussing the tortuous cycle of avoiding the pain and giving in to it so you could catch a breathe, I told how I used to scare my mom by holding my breath when I was mad. My Grandma had counselled her mom to let me go ahead and hold my breathe, because I would start breathing if I passed out.

The too-late thought was that I should have began my portion of the evening by having everyone stand and hold their breath for as long as they could. When they took a breath, they would sit down. That simple, tangable act would have instantly personalized the details I later shared. Every mention of suffocation would have brought a flashback to the opening exercise -- to the burning need to breath, to the way the body cries out for the next breath.

This will be part of any future sharing on death-by-crucifixion.

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