I played baseball on and off throughout my younger years. I was so "good" at it...my usual position was left field. That's the spot between first and second base way way back in the outfield. Where the ball hardly ever goes....
Given the business I am in now, I find that I am constantly receiving unexpected hits from left field on a consistent basis. Take the other day for example. I was in my car just about ready to go into Whole Foods when I got a call from some random out-of-state area code. I thought, "What the heck!?" but of course I answered it. Turned out to be someone I saw once several years ago. She initially wanted to know if I remembered her and the exact nature of our first (and last!) session together. That would be a "No.", but I digress. When I asked if she would be kind enough to remind me, she responded by saying, "I don't think I better."
Okay. Was this a crank phone call? Did I just stumble into the Twilight Zone without realizing it? Turned out that the person I was speaking to was ensnared in a nasty child custody battle with her soon-to-be ex. To make a long story short, she was led to believe that a particular diagnosis would guarantee her own inability to maintain custody of her children in a court of law. Although there are some diagnoses that would definitely put into question a parent's ability to think and respond clearly to real-life circumstances involving minor children...this diagnosis was not one of them. But she wasn't having it....because she wasn't hearing me, let alone listening to me.
For a brief moment, I wondered for the thousanth time how people can be so blind to the things that are true...and so convinced of the things that are untrue. Clearly, I wasn't going to be of any help to this woman as long as she remained agitated and unfocused. In the end, I was able to repeat what she needed to know enough times for my words (I hoped!) to sink in.
I don't know what the future holds for this woman and her family...but I hope she eventually learns that all kinds of things can come at a person from left field. It is our ability to discern whether or not it needs chasing down or letting go that can make a major difference.
