Running with Scissors

Once when I was a young lad I was scolded by a teacher in school for running down the hall with a sucker in my mouth. Now as all young boys are I was not quite sure why this teacher would yell at me for such a trivial offense but over the years I began to appreciate what she was in a sense preventing me from doing. I have often wondered if there were points in ones life where we could definitively put our finger on the day of days, the point of persuasion where if we would have chosen x instead of y would life be different and how so?

I can think of a few such days. One in particular was when Josie and I found out Alex was en route to our crazy lives. I remember that day well, Josie came and found me playing racket ball with my friends in the gym at Weber State. We shared some tears but I remember that as a day that changed my life and the focus thus far in my life. Another time was when I was sitting in the Navy hospital with some doctor looking at my fractured wrist (scaphoid) and saying "you can choose today to go home and heal where you will be medically discharged or stay in boot camp and heal there." In both cases life slowed down and I thought carefully about my responses and resulting behavior.

Today at work I had the displeasure of laying off some of my employees. I don't know of one manager who enjoys that part of their job and I am no exception. But the culmination of this whole post comes down to my interference in someones course in life and what I do matters no matter the size or scope of the issue. I just hope that I can be the guy that makes that positive influence with out really scolding someone. I hope I can catch someone from running down the hall with a sucker in their mouth and tell them why a blow pop wedged in their brain wouldn't be a good thing.

Lets hear it for senseless carbs!!