Life can change in a heartbeat, and sometimes, the smallest incident sparks the biggest reflections. Picture a bright, recent graduate heading out on his motorcycle for a quick stop, full of post-graduation promise. Then, the phone rings. This powerful personal story plunges you into the anxious moments a family faces when a brief, alarming call arrives: their son has had a motorcycle accident. Experience the immediate worry and the urgent dash to understand what happened, as an everyday journey suddenly veers into the unexpected.
But what starts as a moment of fright quickly unfolds into profound life lessons about risk, resilience, and the true meaning of a life well-lived. On Our American Stories, we explore how unexpected events like this motorcycle accident become powerful teachers, urging us to find balance between caution and the courage to live fully. Discover how one family navigated a minor incident that delivered major wisdom, reminding us all about embracing necessary risks, trusting in life’s journey, and finding hope even in the face of uncertainty. This “Balance” story is a testament to the enduring spirit of American families.
📖 Read the Episode Transcript
Speaker 1: This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, from the arts to sports, and from business to history and everything in between, including your story. Send them to OurAmericanStories.com. They’re truly some of our favorites. Up next, a story from Brent Timmins. Today, he shares with us a story entitled, “Balance.” Take it away.
00:00:34
Speaker 2: Brent Asher had left on his motorcycle for work at a summer job he had just graduated, and needed to make a quick stop at his high school to drop off his borrowed laptop and calculus calculator. Thirty minutes later, my wife answered the phone. The information she was given was brief. Asher had had a motorcycle accident in front of the school. They thought he would be okay, but the ambulance was coming and might end up taking him to the hospital. That was about the extent of the information. Both of us quickly thought the worst, as if he had collided with another vehicle when either turning into the school or coming out. The wording ‘thought he would be okay’ registered in my mind as non-life-threatening injuries. “Where would they take him?” was the first question out of my mouth. Tina called the school right back and was told it would be Nannacoke. We wondered how we would know whether to go to the school or to head directly to the hospital. This state lasted about three minutes. I wouldn’t call it hysteria. It was more like a laser focus on how we were going to get to where our son was. Then Asher called. He said he was okay, described a situation, and told us we just needed to come get him and his bike. We knew our son well enough that this immediately put us at ease. I hooked up the trailer and we headed off. It was a relatively minor event. Asher was slowly turning into the drive of the school. They actually caught it on camera, and he hit a small patch of sand on the asphalt. The rear end slipped out in a heartbeat, and he ended up on the ground under the bike. The school staff was fabulous. They rushed to his aid immediately and watched over him in the nurse’s office as he gathered his wits and the shaking from the adrenaline wore off. He had some scrapes, the bike had some scrapes, but overall, he and his bike would be fine. This is one of those things, one of those things that reminds us how quickly something can happen, which could alter the future. It’s one of those things that reminds us to appreciate every moment, one of those things that changes us, one of those things we are thankful for because of the lessons learned. Motorcycle riding is by nature much riskier than riding in a car or truck. If you look at the statistics, it’s, well, you don’t even want to know. It’s a choice made for the known risk. We let our boys make that choice with that risk. I ride myself. Why would we do that? Would we rather our boys didn’t engage in such an activity? It isn’t that simple. A life lived without any risk is, well, it’s not really living at all. We take a risk when we choose a college major in the face of uncertainty. We take a risk in participating in a sport when we may possibly be embarrassed by poor performance. We take a risk in choosing a life partner. We take a risk in changing jobs. We take a risk in buying a home and committing to pay a mortgage for the next thirty years. A life without any risk is a life of not moving forward; it’s not really life at all. Of course, there are ways to reduce risk, and we do those things, and with a passion. At some point, there is a balancing of the passion to live and the passion to walk in caution and wisdom, and that’s really part of the secret of life. People choose different ways to go about it. Maybe you lean on your faith in God, or maybe you lean on your faith in yourself. Personally, I’ve been disappointed in my own strength way too many times. At the risk of making you feel like I’ve tricked you into a discussion about God, I’ll share this. After we decide whether there is a God or not, and who that God is, comes what I’d say is one of the most prevalent debates about faith. What does God do, and what do I do? People fall all over the spectrum on this. It would take me volumes to try to communicate where I’ve landed personally; and honestly, who really cares what I’ve concluded? I’ll just say this: I want my boys to walk in wisdom, to not be averse to taking a risk, and to trust God in the midst of doing that. Take a risk, ride safe, and live well.
00:05:25
Speaker 1: Take a risk, ride safe, and live well. Wisdom in all of those words. A special thanks to Monte Montgomery on the production of that piece, and to Brent Timmins for a short but profound story with some real, real-life implications as it relates to all of us and our lives. And we’d love to hear stories from you about this space. We spend a lot of time talking about risk and risk-taking. Our entrepreneur stories are nothing but risk stories. A lot of people think entrepreneurs love risk, but that’s not quite right. What we’ve learned is that they love to manage risk and that a life without risk is not worth living, and so they manage risk better than most of us and live within the space of risk and real, traumatic risk because it’s how they’re hardwired. You can’t make an entrepreneur any more than you can make someone ride a motorcycle. It’s risky business riding a motorcycle. I’ve done it for many years of my life; gave it up when I had kids. So, I made a very different decision about risk than this family did about, for instance, riding a motorcycle. Then your risk stories, your failure stories—because we love both of those and what you learn from failure—to OurAmericanStories.com. That’s OurAmericanStories.com. Brent Timmins’ story, who listens to us in Connecticut on Spotify, of all places, here on Our American Stories, folks. If you love the great American stories we tell and love America like we do, we’re asking you to become a part of the Our American Stories family. If you agree that America is a good and great country, please make a donation. A monthly gift of seventeen dollars and seventy-six cents is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters. Go to OurAmericanStories.com now and go to the donate button and help us keep the great American stories coming. That’s OurAmericanStories.com.
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