Someone once had the epiphany that as soon as you figure out how to bribe a kid to do something–they have the audacity to change the rules and you have to start all over.
What that person wasn’t enlightened enough to tell me was that when we become adults we have to stay aware that the rules also get changed–without our permission or without announcement.
Isn’t this the sort of thing that should go out over CNN or FOX News or at least those sources of REAL news like You-Tube or Facebook?
Aren’t there laws against changing the rules? After all it can be very disconcerting when you are in flight, with landing still hours away, and you find out that the plane in which you were comfortably snoozing is now a parachute and the wind is whistling through your hair. I guess we should just be thankful that the chute opened. That is called being prepared–many are not.
The lesson in all this is that the more tuned-in, vigilant and prepared we are for the rule changes in our lives, the easier it is to stay afloat in the bathtub of life–to re-invent ourselves.
I wonder if people who are used to breaking the rules, or at least bending the rules, are more adept at embracing rule changes when they do happen. Or, are they just as vulnerable as the rest of us?
When the rules change and you find yourself with “nuthin”–living under a bridge, or in your car–I can tell you from experience that you can re-group, figure out the new rules, and find new ways to keep a roof over your head and food in your belly. When you have found yourself in this place you also become acutely aware that learning the new rules is NOT guaranteed.
The people that daily jump off the bridges they sleep under is a testament to this fact.
It is an absolute myth that we are never given more than we can handle–it happens ALL the time, to all kinds of people.
Also having been in that place, I can tell you that finding the right place at the right time requires that you be there.
Sometimes people embrace the changes in their lives by being lucky–by being in the right place at the right time.
In difficult times it is imperative that we be in the right place at the right time–luck may not be enough–and you may have pissed off all your friends and family by then. Being “comfortable” becomes a luxury as opposed to something to which we are entitled–and certainly not something to be taken for granted.
We all have opportunities to be in the right place at the right time–having the skills or the presence of mind to recognize these opportunities when we see them is the only real question.
By Charles Buell