Perspective

It's been a long week at work and I am feeling the effects of not shredding the stress on some single track. It's nice to commute by bike as this helps some but getting out and hammering on the trails is what really helps. So I hurried out to the local place to ride and got in a quick loop before the sun set. I almost cleared the unclimbable hill except for a loss of momentum right at the top of the steepest part. I think I hadn't been hammering so much in the earlier sections, I would have had the momentum to clear it. Oh well, next time. It's now raining so I think I got out just in time. I was thinking of playing hooky today (part of me says it would have been a good idea on many fronts) but I didn't. The weather lately has been some of the best of the summer and it is likely to be very numbered.

A digression - you were expecting it right? Tonight I watched a movie about a soldier's struggle with the decision to follow orders to go back to Iraq despite having served his contractual duty. While I am sure there is some Hollywood and there is always a second side to the story, I can't help but think about the sacrifice these young men and women make to serve. If I have a bad day/week at work, no one dies or becomes an amputee. The decisions I make effect people's lives but in the long term, not instantaneously. Stress is dealing with an incompetent boss, not someone who's sole mission is to me and my friends. See this puts perspective on what I gripe about and how, at times, I need to step back from the micro view and look at the macro view. Control what I can, leave the rest to whatever else is out there. I think about the friends and other people I know who have family and friends serving and wish to say thank you so that I can have the freedom to do my job and live my life the way I have the privilege of having the choice to do so. While I may disagree about the causes and reasons for some of the conflicts this country finds itself in, we are there none the less and people are sacrificing. I am going to try and think about this more and be thankful that at the end of a bad day, I can still get on my bike and ride. There are those who can't in all parts of the world on both sides of whatever someone sees as right.