Parable of the Man Who Fell

Parable of the Man Who Fell


He fell once and vowed to never fall again. He suffered a rotor cuff injury that has lasted for months, years, since he refused an operation of questionable success rate. So he suffered with pain in his arm, though he vowed to never fall again, no matter what, the slippery kitchen floor after mopping, or any other possible accident.

He knew to fall could be fatal at worse, long suffering at the least. Each day he said to himself, I must not fall, no matter what.

I cannot fall, and yet it happened, one day he was coming back from the store and seeing some dogs running loose, he freaked.

As he crossed the street he was focused on the dogs and forgot the curb, so he hit the curb and hit the ground, spilling his bag of eggs, links, and liquor--thankfully, his liquor didn't break, nor did the eggs, but his body was hurt, hands, shoulder, yes, the same one with the rotor cuff injury.

Fear caused his injury. His friend had been attacked by a pit bull and had his face transformed, so he had a mortal fear of suffering a similar injury from a dog. He had a fear of dogs anyway, no matter his friend's injury. Of course dogs came into the hood with gentrification and the hip hop generation with their pit bulls, sagging pants, gold teeth, insane raps, beats and nursery rhymes.

But no excuses, he simply fell and busted his ass. So he warned all elders to watch their steps, their fears and illusions, for the dogs may have been quite harmless, yet in his mind they were a big thing.
--Marvin X
5/27/10