Track 7 - Bad News

Why is the phrase, "we gotta talk," almost always followed by bad news. Here's an example, you're dating a pretty young lady and you think everything is going great. You have plans to hang out so you throw on a new t-shirt, jeans and your favorite kicks accessorized with a smile and head over to her house only to be greeted with a "we gotta talk." Might as well have filled your shoes with annoying little pebbles, because instantly you are uncomfortable and you know what's coming. Dang it, this is going to suck!!

Last week, I was out cruising around northern Indiana. Temperature was above pleasant. Humidity was just below a steam room. Hair was frizzy and standing on end like I had stuck a staple in the outlet again like I did in 5th grade. Sitting shotgun in the Kia minivan I could have really used a new york cabbie's beaded seat. Life was fantastic. Minutes later, I was sitting through my speaker's seminar, and received an email from my boss. In not so many words, it said, "we gotta talk." Whaaaaaaa? Luckily, it was to the whole sales staff and not just me but the feeling was a familiar one, dang it, this is going to suck!!

Ok ok, I will jump ahead in the story and just get to it. My company always takes a summer and christmas sales break. I knew the summer sales break was going to be 5 weeks long. Sounded great. I was planning to regress back to summertime in Elementary school before I had to work and all I worried about was whether I wanted to ride my bike, go to the pool or build a fort. Five weeks, piece of cake. A welcome extended vacation. A quick trip to Ohio and a week in Florida that was all that stood between me and Never Never Land. In other words, I was dressed in my new T-shirt, jeans and favorite kicks and knocking on that lovely ladies door. Then, the "we gotta talk" email. Stupid "we gotta talk."

This is the news. The company has decided to extend the summer break out to 10 weeks. Yikes. In addition, they are dumping 20% of our routes and reducing the sales staff. Double and triple yikes! I am not that old and I have already been laid off once. To hear that layoffs are looming is disconcerting. Jobs are hard to come by. I don't think there is anything I like less than job hunting, ok, maybe having tiny rocks in my shoes but that's about it. Hello panic, you unwelcome friend. I did not miss you but I see you standing on my porch. My boyish jovial summer just turned into a sit and wait for the call to the gallows. I have no idea what the outcome will be. I am staying hopeful but dang it, this is going to suck!!

Track 6 - Hero

On May 21, 1998 nearly a year before the Columbine shooting, a boy named Kip Kinkel walked into Thurston High School in Springfield, OR and opened fire. He killed two students and injured 22 others. I remember the event not for the horrifying act itself but for the story within the story. The part of the story that stuck out to me and burned a permanent scar in my memory and I think of it often is how it ended. Kip's rifle ran out of ammunition after firing more than four dozen rounds. In the few seconds that the shooter began to reload, Jacob Ryker, sprang to action. He had already been injured but it didn't stop him. He tackled Kinkel taking another bullet to the chest but managed to disarm him and hold him down until the police arrived. Who knows how many students owe their lives to the courage of their fellow classmate, Jacob Ryker.

I travel each week. Being on the road and coming in contact with so many people I have often had the thought, could I be a hero? I think I could. In fact, I have committed to being one when the time comes if it ever does. My father taught me that if I make up my mind ahead of time, when the decision making moment arrives, the choice has already been made. My fellow sales guys and I have tossed the idea around. The fear exists that one day a disgruntled former attendee will emerge with a gun and start shooting in one of the meetings. There are crazy people out there. My mind is made up in the face of peril I am not going to hesitate, hide, or run. I'm taking the sucker down like United flight 93. I almost had my chance.

I was working in southern Mississippi in a ballroom filled with nearly 200 people. I was talking to a pair of attendees in the front of the room when unexpectedly, I heard some women scream and a commotion in the back. Over the microphone, I heard the speaker plead for some help from the crowd. I had no idea what was happening. I shot my eyesight across the crowd and before I could even compute in my mind what was happening I saw another sales rep along with two guests tackle another guy. What happened was the restrained dude started beating up his girlfriend in the middle of our sales break. She ran for cover, trying to get away. His pursuit was determined and vicious. He knocked a table out of the way. Grabbed the girl by her hair and yanked her around while the crowd tried to stop him and then.... it was all over as quickly as it had begun. I didn't have the chance to Jake the Snake Roberts flying body slam him. But here's the thing, I was ready and willing to. I can almost say I'm desirous to be a hero. So if you are ever out when tragedy strikes, just hope that I'm somewhere near because if I'm going down, I'm going down in a blaze of glory!