Monday, August 13, 2012

The Fates are conniving bitches...and they like to tease.

I've told this story before, but it's illustrative: I went hunting with Dad for years without so much as seeing a deer. Finally, over by John Day, I shot a buck.

I didn't like it. I'm not judging -- either that I'm a wimp for not liking it, or wrong that I did shoot it. It just happened that I didn't like the experience.

So the next day, I walk over the hill and there is an entire hillside full of deer, and several large bucks. (The buck I shot was pretty small, in comparison.) I'm calling Dad on the walkie-talkie, trying to tell him to hustle up there and he's saying, "Shoot!" He wants his tag filled and since I'm there....

Anyway, I didn't shoot.

Next day, I'm ambling along making no effort to be quiet, and this enormous buck -- biggest I've ever seen -- walks to within 20 paces of me, and seems to pose his magnificent head for me, giving me all the time in the world to unsling my rifle and take aim.

But I don't shoot. He turns quietly away, and bounds off.

See what I mean? The Fates like to tease.


So, contemporaneity. (I don't know if that is right usage, but I like the word.) There is this enterprise I've been contemplating, and after long thought and calculation I decided not to do it. For all kinds of compelling reasons.

And then. I find out there is a circumstance that would make that enterprise work much better than I thought.

I shrug it off.

A few weeks, I find out another circumstance that would make the whole idea work even better!

Again, I shrug it off.

And yesterday, I learn something that would improve the odds astronomically!

But I'm shrugging it off.

Still............ I can't help marveling at the big tease.

4 comments:

Duncan McGeary said...

"I'll always wonder if I could have made it work."

"You'd have made it work," Linda says.

"Yeah. I would have made it work...somehow."

Kevin said...

"Risk is our business"~ Capt. James T. Kirk

My dad went through a similar experience. He was offered a chance to buy a convenience store/gas station twice and turned it down. He knew it was a great deal but couldn't pull the trigger as he was worried fate would boot his ass and he would jeopardize the family's stability. He said no. Someone else got it and 20+ years later still own and operate it and do quite well.

My dad kicks himself to this day.

That is why I jumped to go to barber school when I had the chance. I learned from that to not pass up an opportunity to do better or gain something. It's scary but reward demands risk.

Duncan McGeary said...

You're not helping. ;}

Martha said...

I'm a fan of playing it safe, myself...

That said, I'd bet on you to succeed. You don't seem the type to enter into situations blindly, and that goes a long way toward success. It's amazing how many people /haven't/ figured that out. ;)