My name is Ralph and I am 42 years old. I work in a factory that I enjoy very much.
On May 27, 1999, I was working on an automatic shrink wrap machine. While guiding the shrink wrap my hand was pulled into the machine and my middle finger on my right hand was ripped off. I had surgery to replace what was left of the finger and now I have a finger that is almost as long as my index finger.
Over the years I have been very blessed for a full and healthily life and most of all for my greatest gift of all my wife. We have grown together and grown in our faith. Life was going to go on with or without my finger and I was strong and grateful for where I am in life so far. I am not going to let this take over my life and will make the best of what God gives me. I pushed to go back to work and got light duty.
This was where my lesson began.
When I returned back to work I started getting comments and some teasing from people asking me if it was worth losing my finger over a pack of cigarettes. Someone started a rumor that I had dropped a pack of cigarettes and reached down to pick them up and that is how I lost my finger. This is not true. This rumor hurt more that losing my finger in that machine. Everyone was called in a meeting to resolve this matter and get the true story straight and I had to share my lesson (for isn’t there always a lesson in life?).
If I haven’t got a nice thing to say about someone I will not say a word. And I have also learned to not judge anyone for I now know how it feels to be judged. We can ruin a persons life by just a few wrong words. I am sorry to all that I have ever hurt by my words and will work in my life to never do it again. There is an old saying that I will never forget: “Words and water are easily poured, but impossible to recover.” So please remember to watch what you say.