Afghanistan
Published Wednesday, October 28th 2009While working my way through college, one of my jobs was as substitute custodian for a school district. I became the person they called first, because I always showed up and did a good job. That led to a plum assignment of several weeks replacing the Eastwood Elementary School evening custodian, who had a heart attack. It was within walking distance of my mom's house, which is where I lived while in college to cut expenses for both of us.
One afternoon I was mopping a classroom. I always left the door open to allow a breeze in while working. SPLAT! I turned around and saw a mud-soaked newspaper had landed inside the door and splattered dark brown mud all over. I went over to the door and looked out, but whoever had tossed it was long gone. I cleaned up the mess, and then went on to finish mopping the room.
SPLAT! Another muddy newspaper had splattered like a dirt grenade, but this time I immediately dropped the mop and raced to the door. I saw two middle school kids on bikes riding off and laughing.
I was 20 and in excellent physical condition as a result of running every morning with my Labrador retriever Alvin as well as playing half court basketball in pickup games and flag football in a college PE class. I took off after them, not really thinking that much about what I would do if I did catch them.
They rode off the sidewalk and across the big grassy field, the bumpier ride and soggier surface slowing them down. I began closing the fifty yard gap. In another minute, I was almost on the back biker, maybe ten feet away. He turned back at me, and you would have thought he saw the face of God about to cast him into hell. He yelled, and they both gave it everything they had. I kept up for another fifty yards, but then I let them go. As I said, I really didn't know what I would do if I caught them anyway. I would just get in trouble for beating up some smart ass kids and lose my job, which I needed.
I walked back to the classroom and finished mopping the floor. Then I went to the next, and the next. Those kids never came back to bother me again. I had accomplished what I intended.
Now if I had tracked those kids down and borrowed money to set up a college fund for them so they would not lead criminal lives, that would be the equivalent of nation building in Iraq. If I had slacked off on doing homework and spent all my free time and some hard-earned money looking for them, not expecting anything in return for my efforts, that would be the equivalent of Afghanistan.
What does that have to do with cruising? Well, if you don't step back every now and then to think about what you're doing, you could end up wasting your life and resources on things you really don't want. Wouldn't you rather take time to enjoy a cruise instead? Call me.
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