Why not me?

Leslie and I have been talking about my back problems and upcoming surgery. And that of course brought up my several illnesses and surgeries over the years to include the scariest - prostate cancer in 2003 (I've been cancer free since my treatment, now going on 8 years).

A question many of us ask when confronted with bad things happening is, "why me." Surprisingly, I've always taken the position of, "why not me?"  Why would I be so special that illnesses and challenges and sometimes just bad luck, would be deflected? Leslie, who has had her own challenges in life (including me) has the same perspective.

The Gospel writer Matthew tells us that God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. It is not that both are equally deserving, rather where we are standing physically or morally, is not a factor on where and when it rains. Neither are any of us more deserving of good or bad things happening to us in the great scheme of things. Sometimes good people are caught in the crossfire and chaos that marks human existence. Often the truly evil pass through life unscathed by illness or bad fortune.

To ask, "why me?" implies that it really should be someone else. I never pray for hurricanes to be diverted from the town I live in, because it is really a wish that the hurricane will strike somewhere else. Why would Charleston be more deserving of destruction than Savannah? 

Now, don't get me wrong. I would rather not have the back problems I have. If I could wish them away I would. If the surgery doesn't help much or at all, I will be extremely disappointed, but I don't expect to be asking, "why me." That's nothing to pat myself on the back about. It's simply the reality that I deserve no more or no less than my fellow human beings. I can be thankful however to have the life that I have - with all of it's challenges and disappointments. Life is a gift - plain and simple. If the wrapping isn't always perfect, so be it. The gift itself is what counts.