I think at some point in everyones life they get struck with a lighting bolt of inspiration that points them at exactly what they like and need to do. Today was that day, only I was hit with such force it would have killed a god. Today at work we were informed that our workload would be literally doubled, without extra pay. Now for every customer we have to fill out two blocks of paper work and contact them twice. It used to be Contact them once, and fill out one block of paper work, all in all we have at least an extra 5 minutes of work per customer that needs to be done with out use taking the five minuted to do it. When you help 20 people a day that adds up to an hour and 40 minutes. When you have an 8 hour shift that you can't do anything but answer the phone... it makes you wonder where this extra time comes from.
I got home and was all pissy and depressed because I spent a ton of time calling houses for rent to only get turned down 12 times. I grabbed a beer and plopped my fat ass in front of my computer. I got an email from my dad that had a little story in it. Ill give you the abridged version.
He was upset that his brother was serving a tour in Vietnam being a fuel truck driver, much to his surprise my dad got drafted. He was drafted and was told to report to San Diego California. He was in southern Idaho at the time, So he drove to San Diego and found a way to be assigned to a unit back in Idaho. Once in Idaho he was put in charge of the five others drafted with him. He was put on a bus and shipped off to Boise Idaho, (two and half hour ride) where he boarded a plane to Oakland California and then another bus ride to Fort Ord. Here he was told he was to become a 'Pole Jockey', not liking this, he enlisted for an eight month school of radar repair in New Jersey. He failed one of the final PT tests for boot camp, the timed mile run, but they passed him anyway. He was shipped back to Idaho, then had to drive back to New Jersey. Once he hit Kansas his 56 chevy blew a timing gear. The only garage he could get to was next to the motel he stayed at. It was a specialty garage that only fixed Fords, so my dad talked the mechanic in to working on his car by helping him do it. Just when he thought he was finished he found out he had to replace some valves as well. My dad worked through the night, only to have to finish the drive that morning. He finished top of his class for mortar tracking radar repair and was stationed in Hawaii. There he was trained on air defense radar and finished his two year tour.
Now my dad has MS and leukemia but is still fighting as hard as ever. When I finished reading his story I put on my gi and headed down to the Tae kwon do class I was going to skip. I returned the beer to the fridge, unopened.
I realized that at 27, I have wasted a lot of my life for nothing... I have a new goal for my self, to be half the man my father is...
