PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE!

    This upcoming April 02, it will be 2 years since I broke the bone in the heal of my left foot.  This is a bone that the doctors call the 'Calcaneous'.    I was walking to my job in Downtown Detroit that particular morning.  I was about half way there, when I saw straight ahead of me, one of those annoying Waste Management trucks; the kind that have the garbage dumpster attached.  They pick up the full dumpster, and leave the empty dumpster.  I knew where the truck was headed.  It was going to leave it's dumpster right by the path by which I would be walking.  I could have been patient, and waited for the truck to finish its job.  Or I could have crossed the street and keep walking.  What did I do?  In my haste to get to work, and it comes to me now, a bit of insanity, I decided to step off a curb, after the truck picked up the old dumpster, and has backed up.  What I didn't consider was this curb was part of a loading dock depression.  The step off at that point was nearly 10 inches.  I waited until the truck backed up, and stepped off the curb.  I lost my balance, and fell flat on my face.  As I struggled to get back to my feet, I realized that I could not put any weight at all on my left heel.  I ended up that morning calling an Emergency Medical vehicle and going to the Emergency room of a major Trauma hospital, Detroit Receiving, to get an x-ray of my heel.  That is when I discovered that my heel bone was broken.  I went through a series of casts.  For the first time in my life, I used crutches.  I used a walker.  
    I am now walking without any assistance.  But my ankle is sensitive.  And from time to time I find my self limping.  What happened is when I came down on my foot that morning, the force collapsed my arch nearly 50%.  When I stand that leg is shorter because of the collapsed arch.  That, in turn causes added stress on my left heel when I walk.  The ankle is still quite sensitive at times.  People that I talk to confirm to my that these injuries sometimes take years to heal.  Now, I quite understand what the great English playwright, William Shakespeare said in 'Othello', Act 2, Scene 3:

      "How poor are they that have not Patience.  What wound did ever heal but by degrees?"

    So work to develop patience during your life time.  It will pay big dividends.