In other sports, it’s known as Overtime. In baseball, we call it Extra Innings. In life, which I relate to sports, especially baseball, all the time in this space, it’s known as “shit happens”…???
What would you do if you were dealing with personal tragedy but work called you after hours to help with a problem? Thankfully, this is not about myself, but about someone who I work with; he came to the rescue at about 2am to help fix something that enabled us to resume working on 3rd shift. I already knew about his personal dedication; this dude is an absolute workhorse, always there when we need him, always willing to go the extra mile. But on the day of his father’s death, to come to others’ rescue, that’s just flat out inspiring… at least that’s how I see it. It’s like Brett Favre throwing 4 TDs on MNF against the Raiders after his father’s death; that was the one moment where I actually was a fan of our hated rival. And here I am, not happy about being woken up at 130am in the morning, after spending 3 hours already on the phone earlier in the evening dealing with a work problem…
We all bitch about stuff day to day, but we push forward… through it all… what else can we do? We all have our reasons for doing stuff. For me, my family is the number one driver; my personal work ethic was built long before them, but is only justified going forward by their existence regardless if this is reciprocated from on top of the corporation that I work for. I will push ahead, regardless, in everything. There will be things that slow me down; I think, if I was dealing with a personal tragedy, then F work… but most likely, I would react the way he did tonight… and it’s not for the job; they surely don’t appreciate it. It’s for the people; it’s how some of us are built. We are always willing to lend a helping hand, as much as we can.
Funny enough, this guy has been one of my readers over time; not sure if he checks in that much any more. His favorite part of my stuff has always been The Hate Files; it’s because he gets it. He’s a die hard fan just like me, and when we dedicate as much energy to this stuff as we do, we have the right to talk shit… to express hate towards stuff we don’t like. It’s that passion that runs in everything we do, although personally, I express that passion in different ways depending on what we’re talking about. For example, the passion for my family comes through in my dedication to my job; it also comes through in not letting anything slow me down… all the BS, anything negative is blocked out… we keep it moving forward, for the family… I’m always there, regardless of anything else, for my wife and son. I will be that way until I die…
I was going to talk about the fact that the Cubs have played in more extra innings games than anyone else this year. After tonight against Toronto, the Cubs have played in 19 of them; they have a 7-12 record. This guy, that came to our rescue tonight, he’s a big time, die hard Cubs fan. Although the chips may be stacked against him, things may not be going his way, he still presses on… he still comes through… he’s still there. I appreciate him and everybody else like him; I will keep trying to be like him too. Tonight, he definitely inspired me… thanks again man.
Leave a Reply