Once upon a time, children (for example) were called "good" and "bad." Nowadays, all children "are good," but some of them "do bad things." I have heard many au courant parents attempt to convince their children to make "good choices." As in: "are you sure you don't think that's a bad choice?" Kids rarely do. I mean, who would want to skateboard wearing a helmet left to their own devices?
Some of the worst bad decisions are really not all that bad, but they can contravene bigger decisions. For example, when you make big plans and they are good plans (going fishing), but they are thrown off track by the decision to tackle some minor task (answering the telephone on your way out) that erupts into something much more demanding (taking Great Aunt Bertha to the hospital), which interferes with those big, good plans (going fishing).
My most recent poor choice was my decision to seek out a ride, rather than take a bus or a cab. This was a smart call on many fronts. (1) It saved me money; (2) I was chauffeured door-to-door; (3) All the people involved are pleasant, excellent people. It wasn't really all that bad. But it was such a bad decision on my part...boy, did it contravene my bigger agenda.
In taking the ride, I ended up on other people's schedules. Some days, that doesn't matter. Some days, it's even nice to not have to worry about your schedule, since you know you're tied to others'. On this particular day, however, I had hours of big, good accomplishments planned for when I returned home. The 3 hours of delay because of other people's schedule destroyed that plan. Nothing terrible, nothing tragic. And it's my own fault. I can accept that. But the big, good accomplishments remain unaccomplished. That is incredibly frustrating -- perhaps especially because I have only myself to blame.
Now, of course, it falls on me to milk my frustration into focused productivity. Would that it were as easily done as said. But I hear tomorrow is another day, with new opportunity to make good on the bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment