The ER, Ash Wednesday and a Funeral

The life you save is the life you lose.

Holly Slingsby (British, 1983–), Earth Rite, performance at St Pancras Church, London, July 6, 2024. Duration: 1 hour. Photo: Adam Papaphilippopoulos.

“Inspection stickers used to have printed on the back, “Drive carefully: the life you save may be your own.” That is the wisdom of men in a nutshell. What God says, on the other hand, is, “The life you save is the life you lose.” In other words, the life you clutch, hoard, guard, and play safe with is in the end a life worth little to anybody, including yourself; and only a life given away for love’s sake is a life worth living. To bring this point home, God shows us a man who gave his life away to the extent of dying a national disgrace without a penny in the bank or a friend to his name. In terms of men’s wisdom, he was a perfect fool, and anybody who thinks he can follow him without making something like the same kind of fool of himself is laboring not under a cross but a delusion.” -Frederick Buechner

I hate Emergency Rooms. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they exist, I just don’t like being in them. Ever. Either as a patient or visitor. Too many Got’dammed memories. Despite my disdain, I ended up in one the other night,