The news this week has been inundated with stories about a very sticky situation. It seems that a young lady used spray on Gorilla Glue to set her hair in place for a special occasion, only to discover later that she could not remove it from her scalp.
Fortunately, although it took undergoing a medical procedure to get it removed, the sticky substance has finally been removed from her hair and head. Unfortunately, that procedure cost over $12,000. As a result, she is apparently now considering legal action against the makers of the product.
Given that such action is pending, it is perhaps best not to comment further on the matter. I simply point it out because I had a similar experience this past week, albeit on an exponentially smaller scale.
It all happened this way. I inadvertently knocked a little doodad off my desktop. Not surprisingly, it broke into two pieces. Remembering that we too had a tube of Gorilla glue, I retrieved it and promptly glued the piece back together. The good news is that the product delivered exactly as promised. My decoration has been fully repaired; and, apart from a crack where it was pieced back together, all is well.
The bad news is that, despite my best efforts not to do so, I still managed to get some of the glue on my fingers. I’m sure you know the procedure at this point. I first had to unstick my fingers. I then went to the sink and attempted to scrub them clean. Unfortunately, some of the residue stubbornly remained in place. It’s no big deal. It isn’t much; and experience has taught me that it will likely wear off over time.
The problem is what happens in the meantime. Again, I’m sure you are familiar with my situation. Until we go through such an experience, we fail to realize just how much information we take in through our fingertips, through the sense of touch. But once our fingers become overlain with some barrier, no matter how thin, we lose that sense of touch.
Simply put: because of the introduction of a foreign substance, our fingertips largely become numb, and we lose our sensitivity!
As I have reflected on this, I have been reminded that the residue of glue on our fingertips is not the only thing that can desensitize us. If we are not careful, other things – certain behaviors, actions, words, thoughts, etc… - that we get involved in can also desensitize us to the world around us.
And just as it behooves us to avoid contaminating our fingers with glue residue, so does it behoove us to avoid contaminating our lives with anything that hampers our ability to interact with and relate to the world around us.
Having glue on my fingertips is bad enough. I’m thankful that I’ve never gotten it stuck on my head. And I do feel for the young lady and what she has been through. I can think of few worse situations. But there is one thing I know of that is arguably worse than losing sensitivity in ones’ fingers and/or in one’s head; and that is to lose sensitivity to the surrounding world in one’s heart!
My prayer is that I never allow anything to so coat my heart that it becomes insensitive to the needs of other individuals around me in this world! In so doing, I pray that I may faithfully fulfill the Biblical admonition given by the apostle Paul to us as Christians (in Romans, chapter 12, verse16) when he said: “Be sensitive to the needs of others…”
After all, learning to live this way will very likely help me to avoid any number of sticky situations I might otherwise have to experience. Not to mention any number of messes I might then have to clean up!
SOURCES:
NEWS STORIES:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/gorilla-glue-girl-tessica-brown-gets-her-hair-unstuck-after-surgery;
https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/woman-styled-hair-gorilla-glue-considering-lawsuit.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/doctor-risks-gorilla-glue-adhesives-hair-skin.
SCRIPTURE:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/romans/passage/?q=romans+12:15-21.
Fortunately, although it took undergoing a medical procedure to get it removed, the sticky substance has finally been removed from her hair and head. Unfortunately, that procedure cost over $12,000. As a result, she is apparently now considering legal action against the makers of the product.
Given that such action is pending, it is perhaps best not to comment further on the matter. I simply point it out because I had a similar experience this past week, albeit on an exponentially smaller scale.
It all happened this way. I inadvertently knocked a little doodad off my desktop. Not surprisingly, it broke into two pieces. Remembering that we too had a tube of Gorilla glue, I retrieved it and promptly glued the piece back together. The good news is that the product delivered exactly as promised. My decoration has been fully repaired; and, apart from a crack where it was pieced back together, all is well.
The bad news is that, despite my best efforts not to do so, I still managed to get some of the glue on my fingers. I’m sure you know the procedure at this point. I first had to unstick my fingers. I then went to the sink and attempted to scrub them clean. Unfortunately, some of the residue stubbornly remained in place. It’s no big deal. It isn’t much; and experience has taught me that it will likely wear off over time.
The problem is what happens in the meantime. Again, I’m sure you are familiar with my situation. Until we go through such an experience, we fail to realize just how much information we take in through our fingertips, through the sense of touch. But once our fingers become overlain with some barrier, no matter how thin, we lose that sense of touch.
Simply put: because of the introduction of a foreign substance, our fingertips largely become numb, and we lose our sensitivity!
As I have reflected on this, I have been reminded that the residue of glue on our fingertips is not the only thing that can desensitize us. If we are not careful, other things – certain behaviors, actions, words, thoughts, etc… - that we get involved in can also desensitize us to the world around us.
And just as it behooves us to avoid contaminating our fingers with glue residue, so does it behoove us to avoid contaminating our lives with anything that hampers our ability to interact with and relate to the world around us.
Having glue on my fingertips is bad enough. I’m thankful that I’ve never gotten it stuck on my head. And I do feel for the young lady and what she has been through. I can think of few worse situations. But there is one thing I know of that is arguably worse than losing sensitivity in ones’ fingers and/or in one’s head; and that is to lose sensitivity to the surrounding world in one’s heart!
My prayer is that I never allow anything to so coat my heart that it becomes insensitive to the needs of other individuals around me in this world! In so doing, I pray that I may faithfully fulfill the Biblical admonition given by the apostle Paul to us as Christians (in Romans, chapter 12, verse16) when he said: “Be sensitive to the needs of others…”
After all, learning to live this way will very likely help me to avoid any number of sticky situations I might otherwise have to experience. Not to mention any number of messes I might then have to clean up!
SOURCES:
NEWS STORIES:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/gorilla-glue-girl-tessica-brown-gets-her-hair-unstuck-after-surgery;
https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/woman-styled-hair-gorilla-glue-considering-lawsuit.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/doctor-risks-gorilla-glue-adhesives-hair-skin.
SCRIPTURE:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/romans/passage/?q=romans+12:15-21.