Sunday, April 8, 2012

Cracking Under Pressure

I was reminded of an experience I had when I was an early teen. At a young age my step mother taught my brothers and I how to cook because she didn't like cooking all the time. One day, because my parents were going to be out until late evening, I was asked to prepare dinner which consisted of a roast.

I am sure what my step mother told me was to put the roast in a baking dish with water and stick it in the oven. What I heard was put the roast in the pressure cooker with some water, tighten the lid and turn it up high, so that is what I did.

A while into the cooking my younger brother asked me if we needed to let out some of the steam through the vent on the lid. I said no, that is why they are called pressure cookers.

To the left of the sink was the kitchen sink where I was standing doing dishes. In an istant everything went white. I didn't hear anything and I was a bit disoriented for a few seconds. Once the air cleared I looked at the stove and noticed it has caved in about six inches. The pressure cooker had a crack in it and was still on the stove. The lid had blown off and in the process flipped in the air and slammed into the ceiling leaving a round imprint on it. The roast had flown over and hit my brother who was sitting on the couch watching TV, he wasn't hurt. And the window in the front door had been blown out. And me, standing right next to the stove, didn't get hurt either.

There is more to the story but for now we will leave it at that.

So what is there to learn from this? Here is what I learned:
-make sure I understand the directions the first time when they are given
-listen to the council of those around me because they might know what they are talking about.
-what pressures am I working under and how close am I to exploding or cracking?
-am I living in a way that if danger came my way I would be protected?
-how will my actions or are my actions or lack of actions therefore affecting those around me?

Food for thought.

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