There are times that I feel like I am the one that knows this or that backward and forwards...which differs from the time that I feel like a complete dunce. I'm sure everyone has had both of those moments. The problem is that I seem to have a lot of them lately...sometimes one right after the other.
Take today...I'm at the library in Dennis, Massachusetts (Cape Cod) going through all the articles that I have found thus far. Then I go to the Walden Library online and search for more articles (Why? Because my Chair said that I need a minimum of 10 articles. So I'm looking and looking and looking...you get the idea...and I realize as I compare what the search has found that I have them downloaded already.
Damn I'm good! At first I felt like I was...you know "all that and a bag of chips"...THEN I realized...wait...I had them already...why didn't I use them? Well, hell! Now I just feel dumb.
Now my two friends that are with me said look at the bright side...I don't have to spend my time looking things up...just reading and writing. Now that's what friends are for.
So I sat there thinking about all the times that people have that instant feel good moment taken away. Perhaps they should look at the bright side and realize that there's a silver lining...if they can see it.
I spent my career looking for the silver lining in everything I did. Why? Because my father told me to. When he commissioned me as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army Reserves, he told me three rules:
1. They can't kill you...they can bend your dog-tags but they can't kill you.
It took me a while to figure that out...cause of course my consistent analytical mind said that they could kill me. There's a lot of things soldiers die from literally...but not metaphorically...
2. There are opportunities in life. They may be yours they may not be but you won't know unless you look at them. You can always say no, but if that opportunity passes, you won't have the ability to say yes or no to it.
I looked at a lot of opportunities in my life and I'm really glad I had that piece of advice. I had the pleasure of doing a lot things that I wouldn't have and that other people will never have the chance/opportunity to.
3. Not everything is fun. So make it fun. Find that silver lining and have fun.
Now, I must say, that this one was not hard for me to obtain at all. I knew how to have fun. I see the lighter and funnier side of life in so many things. This is not to say that there hasn't been heartache, tears, sorrow, and times I thought I'd never be happy again. But eventually even through all those times, I can look back and see some fun times.
I've only added one rule...
4. You never know until you ask.
All they can say is "no". You're no worse off then you were before. So if they say "yes" then it's just the gravy on top...another silver lining if you will.
So that's what I did with my Chapter 2 a couple of weeks ago. I handed it in to my Chair. All she can say is that it wasn't right do it again...okay...but she didn't...she said I needed more but it was a great start. Yup I felt that "all-knowing" feeling again...until I looked at all the articles and dissertations I forgot I had and didn't go through...
Oh, well...she bent my dog-tag, but there's an opportunity to do it better, and the silver lining is that it is a great start! I'm still using Dad's rules. He'd be so proud.
...and a PhD means...that rules are guidelines and life needs them for the lessons you learn...
