What's Up, Doc?

Sometimes you just need to let people know what's up.

I almost didn't post today. It's Tuesday, and I always post to Just Five Minutes on Tuesdays, but today I felt I didn't have time.

That's funny, isn't it? The blog is called Just Five Minutes, and I didn't feel I had time to post. (I'm rolling my eyes at myself as I type this.) Fortunately I realized how ridiculous that is. So here I am.

I know why I felt so pressed for time, and the reason's legitimate. My team at work was recently notified that the budget for our project won't be extended. We all need to look for jobs. So that's what I was doing tonight. I put together and sent off four resume/application packages. Frankly, that ate my evening. So the post I had planned to write isn't going to happen today.

And that's okay. Not posting--that wouldn't have been okay. It would have left those of you who read this blog wondering where I was and what had happened. Not cool. Not when I can spend just five minutes writing a quick post that lets you know I'm here and still working on this blog.

Just five minutes can let others know what's going on.

Destiny Has Torn Us Asunder

Destinies can change in just five minutes

The boss called the team into the conference room. "One of you is getting laid off. You guys decide who."

I wasn't there, but I can imagine the wide-eyed terror that comes from being blindsided. The heat of anger at being left to make this decision. The rock in the stomach from wondering if one of your coworkers is going to tear you down in order to build themselves up. The awful, terrible unknowing.

My friend, single and childless, volunteered to take the hit.

For my friend, this decision had to hurt, but would it have hurt more if he'd stayed knowing that one of his coworkers was now out of a job? He doesn't know what's next for him, but it's a different path than he saw just a month ago. He's free to return to school, work overseas, find another position in his field, or pursue another career entirely. And I'm sure there are dozens of other options that are now open to him that he wouldn't have seen had he stayed where he was.

It isn't just his destiny that he affected. By sacrificing himself, my friend spared his coworkers.

I don't know them. I don't know their lives. But I do know that money problems is one of the top relationship killers. I know that the stress of unemployment can cause fathers and husbands, mothers and wives to act out against their kids or spouses, or retreat within themselves. Whether anything like that would have happened, we'll never know. My friend spared them the stress of being laid off.. He affected their destinies by letting them remain on their current paths.

What choices have you made that changed peoples destinies?

note: As of this post my friend still hasn't been told whether or not they're actually going to lay him off. He's in limbo, waiting to find out.

Say what?

Stating your case quickly and clearly sometimes gets you what you want.

Several years ago my sister, my nephew, and I were running errands. It was late, and everyone was ready for dinner--my nine-year-old nephew particularly. He didn't react well to hunger, so I knew there wasn't time to head home and make dinner. Fortunately, the town offered plenty of restaurant choices, though a sit-down restaurant probably would take too long, too. Fast food it was.

I was driving, so I made the announcement:

"We're gonna run through a drive-through. Burger King or Taco Johns?"

My nephew immediately balked. "I wanna go to McDonalds."

I tried explaining that McDonalds was the absolutely worst fast food restaurant for a vegetarian (can't even eat their fries, and their salads all had chicken on them). But he was hungry, tired, and cranky as only a nine-year-old can be.

"Let's try this again. Instead of whining and getting mad, how about you tell me why it's so important that we go to McDonalds instead of Burger King."

"It won't matter."

"Try me. But calmly."

So he did. This was the last day to get a particular Happy Meal toy. He had all the rest from the series, but my parents hadn't had time to take him to McDonalds over the past week (a weekly ritual of theirs), so he didnt have this one.

I remember how important things like that can be. And my dinner could wait till I dropped my sister and nephew off. We went to McDonalds. But if he hadn't been able to explain in less than five minutes why going to McDonalds was so important to him, we wouldn't have.

What position of yours can you explain to an adversary in just five minutes to make a difference in your life?