Being Prepared

Today, I walked into a room. Since I wasn’t raised in a bar, I closed the door behind me. Then it suddenly occurred to me that it was dark. A lesser degree of panic kicked in, as I begin looking for the light switch. The natural place to look is within a foot of the door; however, some architects seem to overlook common sense. Fortunately, it was within the proximity of where I perceived it would be. All was well.

I thought about it momentarily. How did I know where the light switch was going to be? I simply deduced that experience was the reason I knew where to look for the light switch. I went about my business.

Fast forward to the supermarket, where I overhear a lady in the checkout aisle share an anecdote over the phone. The anecdote:

I was in downtown L.A. and had to park. I didn’t realize that I would have to pay for parking. So there I was without any cash, and I had left my cards at home…

My initial questions were:

What were you doing in downtown L.A. without any money?
Where in downtown L.A. are you going to get free parking?

However, I restrained myself from inquiring. After all, she wasn’t asking for my opinion, and I didn’t want to be that guy.

Instead, my mind went back to the dark room earlier in the day. Even though I made the error of closing the door before turning on the light, I avoided a bad experience because I knew where the switch should be. I survived.

Apparently, the lady survived her ordeal as well. After all, there she was; standing in front of me in the line. How did she overcome her lack of poor planning and at what cost? Well, that’s another story for another time.

Connecting my experience and her’s, the lesson I learned today was:

Use common sense and always be prepared.

That is all. Peace, mon amis.