Over the past two weeks or more, life has had a few problems, mostly caused by ups and downs. Staying on the level is paramount these days.
And, as it has turned out, a certain young ( not yet 90 years old) redheaded lady was brought down to earth with a bang. So let me tell you how it happened.
But before I do, let me just say that going up and downstairs is not good for us. Being on the level keeps us safe.
Climbing a stairway to heaven or descending a stairway to hell? Hmm... I think that being on the level reduces the risk of a misstep. But maybe that is just me.
My late Dad was a Naval man and he always believed that the secret to peace love and harmony was a steady course, a good hand on the wheel, and a trusted crew. Stormy seas and rough weather were inevitable. But you needed a good Captain and a good set of sailors to ride out the storm.
When I went sailing, without something to hang on to, there was a big chance that you would fall overboard.
Much like politics and life today, a steady hand at the wheel and a good captain at the helm will make for a safer voyage and a better outcome.
The problem we have today is that our governments have created unnecessary staircases and they have been poorly designed and with little regard for the person that has to negotiate the climb.
We stumble, fall, and find life increasingly difficult to navigate that staircase where the stairs are becoming increasingly taller and the tread is increasingly narrow. And they rarely provide a handrail to hang on to.
Unless we are cautious, it is inevitable that we will fall or injure ourselves, through no fault of our own.
It is those bloody stairs.
The steps are too tall, the tread too high. The handrail is on the wrong side or not there at all.
When I relocated to the Sunny Coast I determined that I would buy a place with no stairs, as my parents had done back in the 1980's when they chose to live in a place on the level.
Redhead and her late husband chose a home on the flat. No stairs. They chose a place that was safe and free of risk.
Our governments have raised borders and stairways, not to Heaven, but to Hell.
They have taken away our easy ingress and egress. They have locked us in our homes and made giant staircases to freedom that few can climb. All they asked was that we threw caution to the wind and they could let us choose to leave the confinement of our homes, as long as we let them design the staircase.
When so many of us chose to stay in our tried and trusted homes on the level, we were told that we were irresponsible and we were shunned for not climbing the stairs to the " upper floor."
We still are.
Why is it that so many who climbed the stairs because the government told them that it was safe are now falling down with pericarditis, heart attacks, Bells Palsy, blood clots and who knows what else?
Redhead is a cleanskin. A pureblood.
I am off the metaphor for the moment and coming back to reality. She was invited into a neighbour's home about two weeks ago and to get to their gathering space, she had to walk up some steep narrow stairs.
She stepped onto the first step and felt something snap. At that point, she knew that she should back off, walk away and decline the offer.
But she carried on. She walked up the stairs and twisted and turned, tried to navigate the narrow and steep treads and then know that she had to come back down again.
Oh, why did she not stop at the first step?
Instead, she was now in pain and wishing to buggery that she had stayed on the level.
She had not been able to get into bed. Even sleeping in a chair was painful and fractured by pain. All because she climbed a staircase that she KNEW she should not climb and then KNEW she would have to navigate back to the level.
Some well-meaning friends and relatives urged her to go to a Doctor or hospital. She refused. She felt that she would have to get jabbed in order to seek medical help. No way was she going to go " from the frying pan into the fire. "
Then a miracle happened.
The other night, Redhead asked God and her late husband ( my Dad) to help her. She was tired of being in pain.
" Just do SOMETHING! ANYTHING! Please help me " she prayed and nothing happened.
Until the next morning.
Redhead was in the kitchen. A recalcitrant cupboard door refused to close. She put her hand on the kitchen bench and used her leg to slam the door shut.
The next moment, she was on the tile floor and unable to get up.
She managed to slide her way to the door, easing herself to a place where she could call for help from her neighbours. Fortunately, a neighbour heard her call and she, along with another neighbour, helped her to her feet.
Did she want an ambulance? Did she want a Doctor? " No " she replied. " My fall seems to have fixed my problem! "
What could have been a disaster turned out to be a miracle: she was suddenly without pain.
She had to be brought down to earth, back on the level. The pain was gone.
All she could think of was her husband who made sure that she had her hand on the bench and God, by her side, ensuring that she fell in just the right way to make sure she did no damage. In fact, it solved the problem.
It was a team effort.
Given that this young Redhead is coming up 90, it was nothing short of a miracle that she fell and was rescued by caring neighbours who heard her call. It is nothing short of a miracle that she fell in just the right way that she did not break her hip, but in actual fact, fell in the RIGHT way.
There is a lesson to be learned from this:
Don't build stairs where none are needed. If you need them, build them with handrails on both sides so that you can grab whichever one feels right at the time.
When you feel the first twinge of pain on the first riser, don't keep walking up. It is probably a bad journey.
Our governments are telling us to ascend and descend when we feel pain at the first step. And are forcing us to continue on a journey we neither like nor want.,, and are then telling us that, if we are in pain or have permanent damage as a result of the stairs, it was our choice to climb.
I have a sneaky feeling that there will have to be a big fall to bring us back to the level.
I only hope that we have loved ones, God and good neighbours at our side when the fall happens.
Because, I suspect, that our governments will be too busy hiding in a cupboard under the stairs. Because it will definitely NOT be their fault......