Imagine walking through the mall minding your own business (literally minding your own business). Imagine you are so much minding your own business that you are looking down and texting on your phone that you do not even mind the fountain several paces in front of you. As you are about to finish your text and press send you are tripped by the ledge of the mall fountain and go in for a splash. Despite begin covered in water you are perhaps more concerned that you are drenched in embarrassment. Despite hurting a little physically your pride is going need to need major surgery, so you jump up immediately, look around to survey the amount of people who witnessed your slip and slide escapade, and then you try to figure out how to get home without turning into an icicle. I hope this is not too hard for you to imagine. Anyone who texts on a regular basis will have to admit to texting and walking in a store or mall at times. This event is easy to imagine because it truly could happen to almost any of us. Therefore, when this happened to Cathy Cruz Marrero it was no big deal, except when she became an internet sensation.
I must admit it is unfortunate that nothing in our lives can remain private. It is a shame that the security guards put it on youtube, but at the same time it is pretty funny. No one besides herself and close family would be able to recognize the woman in the video. No harm, no foul. But not so fast. In America you do not need to be harmed; you do not even need a crime to wage a lawsuit against any company for your own embarrassment. Because malls tend to have money, Ms. Marrero has decided to get a lawyer and well $$$ in.
So why write about such an incident? Well first of all it is hilarious only because of the fact that she wasn’t hurt, and I could easily see myself in the fountain. Second, I think it is time we open our eyes (or maybe just advert them from our texting machines). We have become so blinded by our sense of self importance that any time we feel embarrassed or hurt we think the world owes us justice. Why do we think we are so important, why do we think we deserve the world yet refuse to have to work for it? Why is every inconvenience in our life a gross injustice by someone else?
Remember the story of Peter trying to walk on water? Peter sees Jesus pulling off this neat aquatic miracle and asks Jesus if he can give it a try. With Jesus’ permission Peter steps out and viola he is walking on water, for about 5 seconds. After 5 glorious seconds Peter falls in the water soaked and yelling for help (quite a funny thing to witness, Peter an experienced fisherman yelling out in fear of water). This was quite an embarrassing story for Peter. Luckily for Peter there was no youtube back then so people just wrote it down in a book that has happen to be the longest bestseller in history (luckily for Ms. Marrero we won’t be talking about her for the next 2,000 years).
Can you imagine the next day Jesus gets a wakeup call from Peter’s lawyer informing him that Peter could have been hurt? Imagine the other 11 disciples are being sued because they only laughed and did nothing to help. No, none of this happened, Peter dried himself off and life carried on. I recommend when life pulls you down to do the same thing. God still loves you, he hasn’t left you, he just thought you needed a splash of cold water.
With God we can do great things, just know along the way you may get wet.
Update: It seems that Ms. Marrero has droped the charges against the mall according to nbc.com. It seems she has dropped the charges only after it has been brought to light that she has a criminal past of retail and identity theft.
No comments:
Post a Comment