What's Your Reality?

True story ...

As a college student, I shared a dorm room with three other guys.
There were two double bunk beds in the room and we often used
the top bunk to iron our clothes.

One Friday afternoon I was doing some ironing on the top bunk
while one of my roommates, Anthony, was lying bareback on the
bottom bunk. We were engaged in some casual conversation to pass
the time away.

Now there was another unplugged clothes iron on the top bunk,
apart from the one I was using. So a bright idea flashed in my
mind. Why not take this cool clothes iron and stamp Anthony's
back just for the fun of it?

So I did.

I took the cool iron and pressed it into his shirtless back. It's
not hard to imagine what happened next. He screamed out my name
at the top of voice as his popping head almost hit the top
bedstead. He was so sure that I had lost my mind and decided to
brand him with the hot iron.

I laughed as loud as his scream and he eventually joined in a few
minutes after he realized the truth of what I had done.
Now Anthony heard the steaming of the iron, smelled the hot
fabric and finally thought that he felt the hot iron on his bare
back. His mind was trusting his other senses and ignoring his
sense of touch.

The mind is powerful indeed. Perception can be everything at
times. And even when the evidence says to the contrary, if you
believe that iron is hot, you'll scream first and then think
afterwards.

It still makes me laugh today. He promised he would catch me back
but he never did. But life has caught me many times since then.
Whenever I trust what I imagine is real rather than reality
itself, I am falling for the hot, cool iron against my back.

-Ray Edwards