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Parks & Rec Business
| A Step Ahead Good Lord! Who are you talking to? By Ron Ciancutti Dang. You’re late for an important doctor’s appointment. In a hurry, you fly out the door, jump in the car and back out the driveway at warp speed. As you cock the wheel to turn around, you see a kid sitting on a bike, patiently waiting for you to pass. If he hadn’t stopped to give you the lane, you would have hit him. Realizing the close call, your heart drops into your stomach, and you silently say, “Thank you,” as you glance at the boy, now only a speck in the rearview mirror. Unfortunately, your mind’s still racing, your heart’s still pumping and you’re still late. In this frantic state you get to the one traffic light in town just as it turns red. “Oh, don’t do this to me,” you beg as you sit there hammering at the wheel and repeating, “Please, please, please…” Eventually, of course, it turns green. And, finally, you wheel into the doctor’s office and run to the check-in area, already beginning to prattle on about why you were late, when the nurse says, “That’s O.K., the doctor’s running a little behind today anyway.” You put your hand to your chest and try to calm your still-thumping heart and racing mind. You find a seat, and with a heavy sigh, whisper, “Thank you.” To Whom Are You Talking? I’ve got a question for you. To whom are you talking? It seems to me, you’ve been in touch with someone all day. Who is it? Are you talking to the spirits of all the things that could and do happen? Who might they be? No, I’m pretty sure you were talking to someone or something you have decided has some power over the things that happen to you and for you, right? This is likely the same “being” you address when things go wrong. The target of the question, “Why me?” or perhaps the resignation of the comment, “Why should I expect anything different, this stuff always happens to me?” Well, whether you want to admit it, you believe in God. You were talking to the Big Guy (or Gal). The One that you always silently thanked as your life continued to challenge you. The One that was there when a family member was sick, or you did something stupid and you didn’t want your parents to know. The One that listened when it seemed nobody else cared. If this is true, and I believe it is, then in the grand scheme of things each of us is nothing more than the sum total of our fears, apprehensions, accomplishments and moments in the sun that we take control of every morning and navigate throughout the day. We take our unique gifts and contribute them to the function of the world. Do you find that any of this requires a leap of faith? I sure do. The Chuck Yeager Test Because of the presence of God, I also believe each of us has the power to resist the commonplace and accomplish great things each and every day. Of course, it’s easy to fall into those timeless traps of lethargy and apathy – when we convince ourselves that others will do what should be done. We all do it from time to time. It’s part of being human. The goal is to try to avoid making a habit of it. A good example of somebody who successfully avoided this trap is Chuck Yeager. I have a friend who is an avid pilot. We were once talking about the accomplishments of Yeager and how he was probably more responsible for the evolution of air-related progress than any human being on Earth. My friend said that, although Yeager’s breaking of the sound barrier and continued climb to new speed records are well known, his greatest accomplishments are not. Yeager’s quiet contributions to aviation were a result of his cool demeanor. Here’s the story… Evidently, when Yeager was working as a test pilot, he constantly and calmly spoke into the microphone so the people back at the controls could record the progress of the aircraft and understand what was going right and wrong. Even during periods of great duress, times when flat spins or nose-dives looked to be putting Yeager’s very life in danger, he calmly and carefully submitted instrument readings, noted the number of revolutions he was experiencing, evaluated how the exterior of the craft was holding up and so on. All of this was done with the intention of completing his mission—of leaving behind a log of experience that would help improve the plane and give the next pilot a “heads up” of what to expect. Yeager contributed to the very end and, to this day, that calm, cool collected voice you hear talking to the tower or fellow passengers is merely an imitation of the thousands of pilots that followed Yeager—taking their lead from someone who lived with the knowledge that life was fleeting and that the contribution, each day, was critical. Finding Truth, Building Character Maybe one way to break the cycle, to resist the commonplace, is to continue our daily conversations with that higher power and, if we haven’t already, admit we’re doing just that. Then, maybe we could take it a step further and throw away our worry about being politically correct and instead take a strong stand on an issue near and dear to our hearts. The outcome of this strong stance may very well be the discovery of a new “truth,” and the chances we take to get at this truth may very well strengthen our “character,” emboldening us for the next issue, the next opportunity. And, what if others copied us? We all know how easy it is to believe and emulate a person who stands up and defends his or her assertions with the sure-footed strength that comes from experience and credibility. Good Lord, how would we deal with that? Ronald D. Ciancutti is the Purchasing Manager for Cleveland Metroparks. He can be reached via e-mail at rdc@clevelandmetro parks.com. |
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