Daniel, my little brother, was at the Provinical Championships for golf this week. His two practice rounds went fantastically (he shot 71 and 73). He was all ready for the first round and started off with a spectacular drive off the first tee.

Then while waiting for the rest of the group to tee off he was stung by a bee. He had an allergic reaction to the sting, which swelled up, and was swolen and ill for the rest of the round.

He shot an 86 and sat in 137th place after the first round. Only 70 players make the cut after the second round.

The next day he was back out on the course, his sting was fine and he shot a 72.

He missed the cut by two strokes.

All because of a bee.

I started to think about the cascading implications of that bee sting. If he hadn’t been stung he would have made the cut, then he more than likely would have qualified for nationals, he would have practiced golf all summer, left for university about a week later, played in nationals and goodness knows what else.

I woke up this morning thinking about all of the things that bee cost Daniel.

And then I read the alumni newsletter from my high school. I read about the death of a 17 year-old student in a car crash over the March break.

It put everything into perspective and made me think - that bee cost Daniel all sorts of good things but, for all I know, it may have saved him from a whole lot of bad as well.

The bee, however, knows exactly what happened to it because it stung Daniel - if there’s a bee heaven that is.