Consider poor Brittney Horstman, a Florida lawyer. She was recently banned from visiting her client in prison because her under-wire bra set off the metal detectors, OK, so she removed her bra. But not so fast. The guards now refused her entry because bralessness violated prison dress code.
For Brittney, this was her Split-Second. One of those unpredictable, unbelievable instants in which everything seemed to turn on a dime. Nothing she knew quite prepared her for this bizarre career snag.
We all have un-announced Split Seconds in our lives. Usually more startling than Brittney's. That dinner date when you gazed across the table and it suddenly clicked into place -- this is the one! Or the morning the test reported -- yes, we were pregnant! Or that day when the doctor called and quietly reported -- I'm sorry, but it's malignant! Or that night at the airport when you changed planes at the last minute -- later hearing your original flight had crash killing all on board! Or that cemetery scene when the only way you could explain that rush of comfort was -- well, to you it was God!
We consider ourselves a rational species. Fine, only rationality is not the same as control. In each of our lives there are those unpredictable and uncontrollable sequences of events -- fate, destiny, Karma -- that abruptly play out. When they do, even our finest planning and sharpest efforts are subject to their sudden whiplash. They become that Split Second which forever distinguishes everything that came before it from everything that now comes after it.
Ready...? Don't be silly. Of course not.
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