Friday, April 27, 2012

What would you change if you knew it needed change?

Today, I was listening to the featured Story Corps piece on NPR, and it got me to thinking.

The story came from a man who had suffered a traumatic brain injury from a motorcycle accident. After six weeks in a coma, he awoke and he is now struggling to regain the body and brain that he had before.

During the talk, his wife asked him if thought he was a nicer person now. He said yes, of course. He talked about how much he loves his nieces and enjoys spending time with them. But before the accident, he didn't want them around--didn't want any children around because they annoyed him. He was "sarcastic," his wife said (I assume that she was using that word instead of something that might have been a bit stronger) and now he's not.

He says he's glad that he's had this second chance because it isn't just a second chance at life, but a second chance at living better.

And that got me to thinking. What if we all had this sort of second-chance-at-life-and-I-don't-want-to-screw-it-up experience? What would we change?

I'm going to think about that. A lot.