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Falling on your face, eating the dust
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On the Feast of Epiphany (Three Kings) last Jan 8, I fell flat on my face. What a revelation! A real Epiphany! A manifestation of the real me! What I mean is – I really did fall flat on my face after I tripped on the sidewalk, scraping my knees, my right elbow, and my nose. AND I ate the dust.
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It was high noon; I was walking back to the convent, carrying a red plastic bag full of office supplies I had bought from National Bookstore and contentedly drinking a white plastic cup-full of taho I had just bought from a vendor at the corner.
I fell because I was not looking at where I was going. I did not see a step up the curb. When I fell on my knees, I thought I could regain my balance. But I went straight down on my elbow, spill the taho all over the sidewalk, then I fell on my face, scratching my eyeglasses and getting the sandy dust all over my dress…and my mouth.
A man quickly came to my side and anxiously asked over and over again ,” Kumusta po kayo?” He must have thought that I had fainted, had an epileptic fit or a heart attack.
All I had of course, was a couple of sips of taho. And a lot of embarrassment.
I asked the man if I was bleeding. He said my nose was. I took out my hanky, patted my nose and gasped as I saw blood stains. I held on to him as he pulled me up – no broken bones, thank God. I walked to the convent with my hanky covering my face, blurred vision with the scratched eyeglasses, spitting the dust from my mouth, and sorry that I had no more taho to drink.
The Sisters greeted me with “what happened to you?!” I said I fell on the sidewalk then hurried to wash myself up. Being a nurse, I knew what to do – wash with soap and water all wounded areas, apply Betadine then put band-aid.
I got different reactions from the people I met. “Wow! You are lucky you did not break a bone” “Your eyeglasses could have splintered all over your eyes – you are lucky!” “Good you did no fall on the street, You could have been run over by a jeep!” After a while, I really felt so lucky, inspite of ugly swelling nose, hazy scratched eyeglasses, limping left leg, and hurting elbow.
The accident was not too bad for me to have to stop all of my activities. But bad enough for me to reflect. Pain has a way of grabbing your attention to the painful areas and getting distracted from what you are supposed to be focusing on. You could get so self-centered and wallow in self-pity.
Pain also makes you look for someone to blame. But I had no one to blame but myself – for not looking where I was going, and for doing several things at the same time. Multi-tasking, according to the Strategic Planning Manual I had just read. Imagine a nun walking under the heat of the sun, carrying a red bag of office supplies, a black handbag over the shoulder, sipping a cup of taho, and looking at the construction going on at the other side of the street.
I had to throw vanity out the window for a couple of weeks as I nursed my wounds – making sure infection does not set in and as minimal a scar would form. But scars there are – and will last for several months or years maybe. I look at the mirror and see a swollen nose, scabs (crusty skin) forming day by day. I succumb to self-pity again until I see the crucifix reflected in the mirror from the wall behind me. Oops! Jesus had over 900 wounds all over his body – scourging, crowning with thorns, falling in the dust while carrying the cross, nails on his hands and feet…Compare that with my five scratches. Shame on you, I say to myself. You deserve to eat more dust!
People love to tell of their woes. I found myself enjoying relating my accident to every person who asked what happened to my nose. Sometimes I get sympathy.
Sometimes I get laughter. Always I get attention. And a lot of advice: “apply sebo de macho so there will be no scars…apply virgin coconut oil…apply Block&White.” Now that the wounds have healed, I miss the attention , questions and advices even if I did not follow them.
The story does not end there. A few days after the fall, I went to the Optical Shop to get my lenses changed. I gave them my prescription and I was told to return the next day to have the lenses fit in my old frame. The following day, I waited and waited for the technician to finish. It was getting dark. Then out came the sales girl and exclaimed. “Sorry, Sister. There has been an accident. The bridge of the frame broke!” and she held out the two pieces for me to see. “What do we do now” , I replied. “Please come back tomorrow and we will have it welded together.” “What? I can’t walk around without my eyeglasses! I might fall again!” I pointed to my nose, showed my elbow and lifted my skirt for her to see ALL my wounds. “OK, ok” she said. “Choose a new frame then from the display”. “Do I have to pay? I didn’t bring enough money?” “No, no. We are responsible for the accident. It is free!” “Wow – what luck!” I said to myself. How can anyone be luckier in a fall such as mine?
All the way home in the LRT from Cubao to Katipunan station, I kept praising the Lord.
Each day brings new surprises. The Christmas season is over. Soon, Lent, Holy and Easter will bring in new experiences. No more accidents, I hope. But whatever the event, no matter how painful or sorrowful, I pray that I will recognize God’s guiding hand lifting me up from the dust when I fall on my face again.
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