With electronic equipment on the fritz here in the house, we’ve been sans internet for the last few days. A technician is expected this morning, thank goodness.

In the meantime, it strikes me just how vulnerable we are. Without that electronic monster we call the internet, well… we’re sorta sitting ducks. Things that we assume will function, simply don’t. There is a built in susceptibility.

We’ve backed ourselves into an unwanted corner.

Then a little wisp of perspective hits me. Vulnerable to what ? Our little devices that we sit and poke over morning coffee ? Gadgets that make tasks easier or life more entertaining ?

Vulnerable ? It’s a relative term. My earlier days were spent working with equipment that found me vulnerable.

A number of my acquaintances, too. Guys with unspeakable scars, missing fingers or an eye that no longer provides vision. These are guys who were vulnerable. These are guys that, in a fleeting instant of misjudgment, maimed themselves irreparably .

They may have been unclogging a baler, feeding a silage blower or forcing the remainder of that beef rib through the bandsaw. There’s one of a thousand ways to be seriously injured.

By the Grace of God I’ve managed to avoid such mishap. A warning, however: If you are occupied with dangerous work, then treat it as such. It is all to easy not to.