Lessons learned from a broken arm

• A car moves faster than a pedestrian. Even if you have checked and think the road is clear, things can change in seconds. Luckily, mine was a low speed impact.
• You can have a 'nasty' broken arm without feeling excruciating pain/ having immediate swelling. But you will be certain straight away that it is broken, as it just doesn't feel 'solid' anymore. (In these circumstances, it might be wise to rate your pain as higher than 4/10, so you don't get triaged at first as having a minor injury!!)
• There are skilled medics here in Palmie. Thanks to ED and the Orthopaedic Clinic staff who skilfully fixed things up so my bone could heal. Thanks especially to the Dr and nurse who mainly treated me in the ED for their sense of humour that made me laugh.
• Thanks to some very kind friends and family for help and support, so I could be independent without going loopy. My sister prepared a whole lot of meal sized portions for the freezer and microwave and that was a godsend.
• There are all sorts of things that are hard /impossible to do with one hand eg washing dishes in the sink without them spinning around, trying to do up your jacket zip on a bitterly cold winter's day, chopping up fresh veges, taking photos, handling bits of paper, pulling on some retractable seat belts in cars.... 
• Your good-hand fingers quickly become more dexterous than you ever thought possible. (Having to use one hand to open the screw lid on the bottle of prescribed codeine painkillers the first night at home was a good incentive to discover this.)
• You will get tired and tearful and feel exhausted sometimes.
• Eventually things improve so much you become quite blasé about the cast, and nearly step into the shower without covering it up. This is hopefully a sign that tomorrow at clinic, the cast will be removed!!!!

Kinship and compassion

From the commencement address for Creighton University Graduation
by Fr Greg Boyle, SJ

"And you go from here to create a community of kinship, such that God might recognize it. You go from here to bend the world to grace. You imagine a circle of compassion. And, then you imagine nobody standing outside that circle. And, to that end, you walk to the edges of the circle and you walk with those on the margins. And, you stand with the poor and the powerless and the voice-less. You stand with the easily despised and the readily left out. You stand with those whose burdens are more than they can bear. You stand, in fact, with the demonized, so that the demonizing will stop. You stand with the disposable, so the day will come when we stop throwing people away. You seek, as you leave this place, a kind of compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry, rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it. And, a great many people will look at you, standing at the margins and will accuse you of wasting your time.

The Prophet Isaiah writes, “In this place of which you say, ‘It is a waste,’ there will be heard, again, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voices of those who sing.” You go from Creighton University to make those voices heard – in a sense new belonging and kinship. "