1492
In fourteen hundred and ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
I learned that as a child. The rhyme goes on to tell about Christopher Columbus discovering the “New World.”
“Discover” is a good word to use. “Accident” would be another. After all, the goal of Columbus was to find a trade passage to the Orient. He had no idea that two continents lay in between. So, basically he stumbled upon the Americas.
Many discoveries that advance civilization happen in exactly the same way – by accident.
Accidents happen in the natural world to advance it, as well. In fact, the main crux of evolution is mutation. Organisms use mutations to exploit their environment and better their living conditions. Hence, they survive. Those without this accidental advantage perish. If for whatever reason, the organism is unable to use its advantage, then it will perish instead.
Accidentally discovering something doesn’t guarantee we’ll use it to our advantage either. Sometimes we are too unaware to conceive its true value. Usually this occurs when it runs counter to our expectations. We view it as something unfortunate and we either get disappointed or angry. Those emotions cripple our awareness.
The difference between making a discovery and utilizing it or casting it aside is our perspective. The best way to keep a healthy perspective is by remaining open minded. When we keep an open mind, we see opportunities and possibilities in even the bleakest events. As the saying goes, “Every dark cloud has a silver lining.”
It happens all the time. Someone loses their job and another opportunity opens up that’s even better. The key is keeping an open mind and a healthy perspective in order to see the possibilities presenting themselves.
This happened to me several years ago. I was toiling as a statistician in an industry not conducive to personal growth. It basically just used people up. When they were spent, they’d just be cast aside.
Then some hard financial times hit. Since I was a in a role supporting manufacturing, but not actually producing products, it was a pretty clear that I’d get the axe. I did. I was devastated. And although I had been looking for another job already, the only prospect I had was with a company in North Carolina.
I was a Michigan boy, born and raised there. It was my home. My family and my friends were there. I had no intention of leaving. The opportunity I sought in employment had presented itself, but it didn’t meet my expectations of staying in Michigan. So, I wasn’t particularly interested.
However, when I lost my job in Michigan, something deep in the underbelly of my awareness was desperately calling out to me. I somehow had the presence of mind to finally listen to it. I decided to take a chance and grow beyond the expectations I had boxed myself into. I left and found a company to work for that does value the individual, is very supportive of personal, as well as professional, growth, and, believe it or not, has integrity.
Not only that, but along the way, I met Denise. We were both aware enough to take a chance in combining our talents in a creative way. If I hadn’t parlayed the misfortune of losing my job into opening up to new horizons in North Carolina, I’d have missed the opportunity to become a partner in the Whine & Roses Webzine.
Certainly other opportunities would have presented themselves. But who knows what the consequences of those opportunities would be? There would be some positive and some negative, but I am happy with the silver linings I’ve made by accident thus far here. I guess Columbus has nothing on me!
If you're enjoying this over coffee, tea, or whatever, please consider buying me a cup!SHOES
Let me state categorically that I love shoes — specifically, high heels that show a little bit of “toe cleavage”. I don’t care high heels aren’t good for my leg muscles or posture. I don’t care they’ve given me hammer toes, corns and bunions. I don’t care my toes go numb in sub-freezing weather. High-heeled shoes make my calves look thinner. That’s all I need to know.
I started wearing high-heeled pumps at age six. I’d open my mother’s bedroom closet, sit on the floor and paw through her vast collection of shoes. I’d put them on my tiny feet and totter around the bedroom, imagining how grown-up I looked.
My mother loves clothes and dressing well. Since she sang semi-professionally, she also owned dresses and shoes specifically for performing. I don’t recall her early performances in a lot of detail. But I remember the glitzy shoes; green, shiny pumps for Verdi’s, La Traviata, red, sparkly ones for Jeannette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy duets, and purple stilettos for her “Wicked Witch of the West” routine.
I wanted to perform, too. But the only thing I thought I’d be good at was ballet. This was based solely on the fact I liked ballet slippers — pink, silk ones with pink ribbons to tie. So I whined until my mother bought me the ballet slippers. Then I wanted the ballet outfit. And of course, the outfit necessitated ballet lessons. I could’ve become the next shining star at the NYC Ballet at Lincoln Center. If only I had grace.
My fascination with shoes declined in my high-school years. The fashion of the times was to dress down. This suited me fine, as my general finances were depressed as well. So my standard attire became jeans and old sneakers. This only slightly improved on Sundays when I dressed for church — I wore my newer sneakers. In college, I graduated to work boots. Both pairs of sneakers were worn out by then.
It’s only when I got my first full-time job that the shoe situation improved. Back then, like professional men, professional women always dressed in suits. So I had to have decent pumps. And I quickly established the habit of buying a new shoe wardrobe every season. I had to. They wore out quickly from all those trips to the restroom and copier. Selecting footwear became my passion and joy — second only to eating-out for dinner.
There are men out there who like selecting footwear. But most don’t have the zeal for it the way women do. It’s in our DNA. So men miss out on a lot of fun. And they miss out on variety, especially in the boot department.
Men get work boots, outdoor boots, or cowboy boots to choose from. These are limited in color and material. The choices are either black leather or a kind of grey, composite material you get from used Saran™ wrap. Women have selections like ankle-boots, knee-high boots, and thigh-high ones for every part of the leg that can be covered. Women can choose boots with no heels, stacked heels, platforms, or stilettos. And there are no recycled soda bottles in our boots.
The reason why men suffer for shoe variety is because, let’s face it, they generally don’t have nice legs. Their legs are either so scrawny they look like twigs or as hefty as tree-trunks. They can be hairy or hairless. I’m not sure which one is worse. But, I despise, absolutely loath, the black-socks-with-sandals look no matter what kind of legs a guy has.
If you're enjoying this over coffee, tea, or whatever, please consider buying me a cup!
