Lessons Learned From My Moped

In college, I bought a moped. I saw it as an opportunity to save some gas. Not to mention, it was a great opportunity to look cool since a moped is practically a motorcycle, and anything that remotely resembles a motorcycle is really a Harley, right? Plus, it could fit in the back of my minivan!

With a minivan and moped, I was really maxing out my “cool” potential.

The moped needed a little work, so I took it to a shop downtown. Meanwhile, I made a promise to myself that I would always wear a helmet, even though the law didn’t require it. I knew I was going to be a safe driver, but I wanted to protect my brain from the crazy drivers around me.

Well the day came and the moped was working and running! I sat down on the vinyl covered seat and could feel the fuel-efficiency rumble. I grabbed my helmet and looking like some guy from an X-Games competition, I put my helmet on and gripped the handlebars.

I began to accelerate and before long, I was going a solid 28 miles-per-hour. If only the minivan naysayers could see me now! I slowed down to turn the corner and then picked up speed on the straightaway when, BAM!!!!!

Something hit me! Or let me rephrase that… something flew into me. I experienced my first fly-to-the-eye collision. And yes, that’s a real thing (that I just made up). A fly was flying by and I must have been going too fast for him to get out of the way and he had a head-on collision with my eye! Oh, man did it hurt. I took off my helmet and (probably against any doctor’s recommendation) began to rub my eye, hoping to wipe out the bug remains (are your eyes watering yet?).

With my helmet back on and one eye closed, I slowly idled around the block and parked my ride. No matter how much I rinsed my eye, it felt like there were still a few insect legs under my eyelid. Don’t tell me this isn’t making your eyes water just reading this.

The next few mornings, I woke up with my eye sealed shut from sleepy-dirt, which was my eye’s way of trying to flush out the fly parts.

Here’s the deal: I wore a helmet, but I didn’t put down the visor.

A fly could have hit me anywhere else, but it hit me in the eye. I was worried about protecting myself, but I wasn’t protecting the most fragile things that are necessary to operating any moving vehicle: my eyes.

Oftentimes we get caught up worrying about what other people think of us, our diet, our grades, our income, our future… and we don’t worry about the most fragile thing: our souls.

[wolf_button target=”blank” url=”http://twitter.com/home/?status=We worry about, grades, income, future and don’t worry about the most fragile thing: our souls. – @KyleHeimann https://www.kyleheimann.com/moped” color=”yellow” type=”flat” size=”big” target=”_blank” tagline=”–click to tweet this!–“]We worry about, grades, income, future and don’t worry about the most fragile thing: our souls.[/wolf_button]

There is nothing more important than our souls and yet, it is often the last thing we worry about (if we worry about it at all). Our souls will long outlive our bodies (by about infinity), so what are we doing to protect them? And don’t worry, we can still take care of our souls and look cool.

[wolf_button target=”blank” url=”http://twitter.com/home/?status=Our souls will long outlive our bodies (by about infinity), so what are we doing to protect them? – @KyleHeimann https://www.kyleheimann.com/moped” color=”yellow” type=”flat” size=”big” target=”_blank” tagline=”–click to tweet this!–“]Our souls will long outlive our bodies (by about infinity), so what are we doing to protect them?[/wolf_button]

Protecting my eyes was simple: use my visor. Had I put down my visor, I would’ve avoided the week of recovery that accompanied seeing eye to eye with a fly.

Protecting our souls is important as well. It starts with a relationship with God through prayer. Take advantage of Mass (the greatest prayer), the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and building virtue in your life and your soul will be better protected rather than ignored. The visor is like building up virtue to protect your soul from the fly, I mean sin.

So don’t just protect the external things, protect the one thing that matters most: your soul. And if you need any tips on cool modes of transportation, you better ask someone else.

[wolf_button target=”blank” url=”http://twitter.com/home/?status=Check out @KyleHeimann’s blog about lessons learned from his moped. https://www.kyleheimann.com/moped” color=”yellow” type=”flat” size=”big” target=”_blank” tagline=”–click to tweet this!–“]Check out Kyle Heimann’s blog about lessons learned from his moped.[/wolf_button]