by Nancy Linenkugel
Contributor
The conference room was filling up and I took a seat next to Doug, a leadership colleague I’ve known for years. He was struggling to maneuver with his left hand, including opening his laptop and getting his meeting materials organized in front of him. His right hand sported a bulky, mitten-style bandage.
“What does the other guy look like?” I asked jokingly.
Doug held out his sad hand admiringly and said, “Funny. But this badge of honor belongs entirely to me. Here’s what happened: The other night I couldn’t sleep so I just stopped trying and decided to get up. I figured it would be more productive to do something with my awakeness, so I went down to the basement where we had several boxes yet unopened that we were storing from my dad’s now-closed business. I was trying to use some serrated scissors to open these.”
“And the scissors won?” I interjected.
“Did they ever!” replied a sheepish Doug. “My hand wouldn’t stop bleeding no matter how much pressure I applied. The gash was deep and I knew it needed a few stitches. But I looked at the time — 3:45 a.m. — and my wife and sons were asleep. Fortunately, Julie missed me in bed so she appeared in the kitchen just as I came up the stairs. So she took me to urgent care.”
“Of course, Julie didn’t berate you for being careless,” I commented, since I’ve met his wife and she’s kind and understanding.
“Well, she was thinking it, I’m sure, but no, she didn’t berate me. She just left a note for the kids and we took off for urgent care. Since the boys are in high school they would be OK on their own for a short time.”
“But have you ever gone to urgent care?” he continued. “There’s nothing urgent about it. I was the only one there and I still waited for an hour.”
I responded, “Urgent care is their definition, not yours. But you’d think that bleeding would be the definition of what urgent care is all about.”
The entire time I couldn’t help thinking of the Latin phrase, Caritas urget nos, or "the love of Christ impels us". Maybe this is why love is more powerful than bleeding, though both arise from the heart. What if our urgency to love could be more immediate than bleeding?
[Sr. Nancy Linenkugel is a Sylvania Franciscan sister and chair of the department of Health Services Administration at Xavier University, Cincinnati Ohio.]