Tomorrow’s lunch is packed and everything is ready for work…better check the weather forecast. Do I need my umbrella? Turning on the weather channel, I see that it’s going to be a warm, dry day. Think I’ll leave the lunch and go out. Also,
I’ll put my hair up so that I can be a bit cooler. I’ll have to use hairspray, but no matter, no rain to make it sticky. I won’t even curl my hair tonight.
Rising bright and cheery, having the day carefully laid out before me, I jumped in the car. While driving the short distance to the office, I decided I would park in the back lot today and give others a chance to park close to the door. After all, it’s going to be a beautiful day and the walk would do me good. Getting out of the car, I see the umbrella in the back seat laying next to a sweater, just in case it gets cold…in the middle of July! People think I’m anal to a fault...I’m always prepared for the worse. Though I felt good about the weather forecast, I still reconsidered the umbrella. But I quickly dismissed the thought.
It was a good 30-minute walk from the lot and I was a few minutes early, so I just meandered my way thru the park, smelling the roses as I went.
Well, you know what happened about halfway to the front door…it started raining. Nobody saw it coming, not even those who get paid to see it. Since my umbrella was in the car, I scurried to my office with sticky hair falling down in a stringy mess around my shoulders. Thinking about not bringing a lunch and having to somehow get presentable enough to go out for it, I walked to my desk. Just when I thought the day could get no worse, my assistant informed me that I had a called meeting with the president of the company in 15 minutes.
There are several morals to this silly story. How many come to your mind? Some old cliché’s:
· Always get a second opinion
· Don’t count your chickens before they hatch
· If in doubt, go with your gut
· Nice guys come in last
· Never use hairspray, that gooey stuff is bad for your heart!
But finding the moral to this story is not my purpose. My intention is to share an example of “control” (or “lack of”). Do we who inhabit the earth ever truly have control? What we do, when given an option, is choose the path of least resistance. As the old saying goes, shit happens, we can either step over it, walk thru it and pay it no mind, or scoop it up and fertilize the roses with it. Will that be one scoop or two?
Written by Ann Onymous
