Few things can bring the relevance of how precious life is into focus like an event that happens to you or someone you love. I’m speaking about those unexpected events that hit you like a freight train (or a 300-pound lineman). Things that in the back of your mind you know may happen, but you hope to God they never do.
It was a Tuesday afternoon. I had attended two meetings that morning and was getting ready to step into a screen share conference and was already thinking about the lodge meeting I had to attend that evening.
A foot from the door, I got a call from my wife on my cell phone. “Hey, what’s up,” I said. She stammered with a hesitant quiver in her voice. “Anthony rolled his Jeep, and it’s not good.”
Anthony is our son and oldest child. I bought him that Jeep Cherokee when he was a sophomore in high school. It has a standard shift. Being a brand-new driver, he didn’t know how to drive a stick. The owner, the father of some good family friends, gave him his first lesson on how to drive a standard shift. He did pretty well, after some engine stalling from popping the clutch a few times. So we bought the Jeep, which served him through high school, community college and into his adult life.
We bought both our children whole life products when they were around 3 years old. They grew up in the lodge, going with us to meetings. They had many grandparents, aunts and uncles in their extended Hermann Sons Life family.
Anthony was a voracious camper. He attended all five years he could and then was a counselor-in-training and junior counselor. He played football in high school and later in a semi- professional league.
When he moved off to college, I purchased a term life product for him to get him started with his future financial protection, knowing that the most dangerous time in a person’s life is in young adulthood.
The CDC cites accidents as the leading cause of death for youth between the ages of 12 and 19. Being a law enforcement officer and a licensed life insurance agent, this fact had real meaning for me, as I’ve seen too many young lives wasted in tragic accidents. I would rather have my son’s life protected, both now and in the future, than compound a profound loss with the huge medical debt many times associated with such an event.
“Oh my God, is he all right?” I asked, bracing myself for the uncertain answer I dreaded to hear.
“He’s banged up, and has a huge scrape on his arm, but he’s OK” she said, continuing, “The Jeep’s totaled, EMS just left and the tow truck is on its way.”
I didn’t know the extent of the damage and the fact that his guardian angel was with him until I saw the pictures days later. You be the judge. By the way, he is that very lucky 300-pound lineman standing next to the Jeep Cherokee.
Don’t just hope for the best… be prepared for the worst. Life is precious.