Folks wear their jobs as a badge of honor. How many hours they put in. How much of their lives they set to a single goal / task and claim it loud and proud. Their start-up is their entire life, blah blah blah. Hell, I’ve even made reference to the fact that for quite a while, I got 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night. But that was more out of habit and lack of focus than anything else.
This isn’t about them, though. It’s not about me, either. This is about someone who actually has done things worth mentioning.
Ladies and gentleman, I present Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th President.
- In 1912, he was shot in the chest during a speech. So like any normal person, he proceeded to deliver the speech with the bullet still in him. He left the bullet in his body until his death seven years later. He knew that since he wasn’t coughing up blood, the bullet hadn’t penetrated his lungs. Which means, for those scoring at home, he thought about it and MADE A DECISION about a bullet in his chest.
- As governor of New York, he boxed with sparring partners several times a week, a practice he regularly continued as President until one blow detached his left retina, leaving him blind in that eye (a fact not made public until many years later).
- As police chief of New York City, he would often walk the officer’s late night beats just to see if they were indeed working
- Created the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act (basically, you can’t sell poison or spoiled meat. Yes, that used to be legal)
There are quite a few other things. He was pretty famous. People knew him. So the next time you read a self-serving blog post about someone who thinks they are hardcore, remember this: they aren’t working with a bullet in their chest.
I don’t eat a lot of fast food. But when I do, I usually choose two places: Arbys or Taco Bell. Usually depends on which one is on the side of the road I am on. Since I’m already busy (or lazy) enough at that point to get fast food, clearly I can’t be bothered by making a left turn. So the other day I’m running some errands, and decide that a Chalupa would be awesome. Having a few extra minutes than I planned on, I decided to just park and go into the fine establishment. I wait in line, and get up to place my order (a number 6, no tomatoes, the taco soft, and a Mountain Dew if you were wondering). As I’m ordering, I decide that while I do want all that gut-busting food, I don’t want the 32oz beverage that comes with it. Call me crazy, but I don’t need a quart of soda. So I made what I thought was a simple request. I asked to have a smaller soda size. Now, the look on the gal’s face was akin to showing a dog a card trick. Confusion. Then she said: "ahhhh, we can’t do that sir.” It was as if I asked her to explain Newton’s 
Think of it with other purchases. Macs come in two colors, white and black. A package not on a car physically in the lot at the dealership involves a lengthy wait process and usually a LOT of extra money. Hell, even most newer neighborhoods offer 3 or 4 models with a handful of color schemes. There is an over-efficiency problem to the extent that institutions offer you only a limited set of choices and what results is a subtle determinism of your behavior. I believe that this isn’t what people really want. They want to be more free. They want to exercise their freedom of choice. Do you remember the old marketing slogan of Burger King? "Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us. Today, special orders might not upset them, they just short-circuit their brain synapses. The "Have it your way" mentality of the past is no longer valid. Today, virtually all of the fast food chains are saying "Have it our way". You are not free to choose. And this is a serious issue.
I am a freelance web monkey in Tampa, FL. I am heavily tattoo'd, I sleep too little, I drink too much coffee, smoke entirely too many cigarettes, but otherwise do my thing. My littleman > you.
