So, this week I got hit by a truck.
Oddly enough, that’s not only a metaphor; on the way to work I got
smacked in the small of the back by an SUV. Fortunately I’m
reasonably bouncy, so I just ended up sitting on the truck’s hood
until the driver stopped. The more metaphorical trucks which hit me
this week may prove a bit more problematic to address. Or not, I’m
not sure yet.
That is the nature, I think, of shock.
You are not sure where to go or what to do. You turn, look, plan,
think, execute, all in the space of a breath. You hope the result is
what you anticipated. Sometimes things turn out at you planned.
Other times, not so much.
However, the real test is not in
whether or not the shock occurs but rather what we choose to do about
it. We all get caught flat-footed from time to time. We all get
frustrated, make mistakes, or don’t fit into a given situation.
These moments tend to linger on in a closed environment, poisoning
everything we do.
When the truck hit me I bounced up,
kicking my legs out and letting the force carry me up. Doing so
stopped me from falling under the truck. It also redirected the
shock of contact through my back and waist, preserving my bones and
knees. I ended up sore but not injured; bowed but not broken.
My reaction to the metaphorical trucks
is still playing out, right now, as I write this. I have very few
options opened before me, but perhaps I can come up with something
new. Something innovative, quite, and wise which will allow this too
to pass without doing any more damage to me.
It’s hard for an IT person to let
things pass, to let go. We are problem solvers and dreamers, makers
and changers. To let go involves releasing that central facet of our
business, the thing which differentiates us from the line workers and
the people who remain forever content in the sticky web formed by
simply being rather than living.
Okay, that’s a bit overly romantic. I
suspect my mind isn’t as focused as it needs to be. However, it
contains within its purple prose an element of truth. We do what we
do, I do what I do, IT does what it does, to create positive change.
We strive always and forever to achieve the nirvana called
dial-tone, where our systems simply work and we fade away into
the background, out of sight and out of mind.
On a more positive note, the team did
well this week. We finished up some nagging issues, continued to
work on nagging problems, and uncovered yet another metaphorical
viper in the pit. With any luck we’ll chop that things head off
before all hell breaks lose again.
Onward and upward and all that.
