Hidden Lessons

So last evening, my friend Scott and I were at the theater watching an amazing production of Death of a Salesman. We'd arranged beforehand to hit the Kennedy Center afterward so he could take a photograph -- he's a photographer for a living, and he'd set up a gig for 10:30, having first called the theater box office to make sure the play would be over by then. Well, he'd been told the play ran until 9:30, giving us an hour... but at 10:15, with the all-important funeral scene still to come, we were still sitting in our seats. So with great regret at what we were about to miss, we waited for a transition between scenes and made for the exit.

We hopped in his car and sped out of the garage, driving as fast as we could... and just as we were coming into view of the Kennedy Center, with minutes to spare, his phone rang. The gig had been cancelled. Scott, who was naturally annoyed, chatted with client while he drove -- a big no-no, of course, but we were on the verge of running late -- and in the middle of the conversation, we were rear-ended.

Before you worry, don't. Everyone was fine, and both cars were pretty much fine, and Scott's client even offered to pay him for his time because the cancellation was last-minute. But we both couldn't help thinking: what if we'd just stayed in our seats till the end? There were only 15 more minutes in the show. He'd have been a touch late for his gig... only he wouldn't have been late at all, since it was cancelled. And then we wouldn't have been rear-ended, either. In other words, making an irresponsible, selfish choice to indulge our desire to stay in our seats would have spared us a good bit of heartache, and everything would have turned out better.

What I'm grateful for, though, is that we didn't. We made the good, honorable choice, did the right thing, and lived to talk about it -- and had a nice story to tell. This is how life is supposed to be: you make commitments and you honor them, even when it's hard, and things work out in the end the way they are meant to, not the way you mean them to. Life is just like that sometimes.