Did you ever notice how we learn our most profound lessons in the most un-profound of ways?
During college, I worked as a cashier at Fortunoffs, the mecca of upscale housewares and jewelry in Long Island, New York. There were 4 floors of fine china, small appliances, furniture, decor, and more. Every morning, the cashiers would gather in the basement staff room to get their assignment and pick up their cash bags. Then, like an army wearing sensible shoes, we would descend on the store, ready to face the droves of customers.
There were elevators; however, as staff we were told to leave the elevators for customers and to take the escalators. Not unreasonable. Only one problem. You’d be on day 5 of a 6-day workweek, rushing off to your assignment on the 3rd floor. You’d round the corner, go to hop onto the up escalator and… boom!
You’d trip. Every few days, they would reverse the direction of the escalators.
I don’t know if this was to lengthen the life of the escalators, or if we just had some really sadistic engineers, but they’d get me every time. (I still think the security guys were sitting in their office laughing their badges off).
Now I see that this department store was just one big metaphor for human existence.
You can be moving along in life, minding your own business, when the universe reverses the direction of the escalators: loss of a job, divorce, illness, you name it. Change happens.
When it first occurs, you may find yourself at the foot of escalator, muttering a stream of well-crafted expletives. Then, like everything else in this world, you’ve got a choice. You can keep trying to run up the down escalator, cursing the gods of vertical transportation and screaming, “Why Me?” at the top of your lungs, or you can pick up your cash bag, dust off your sensible shoes, and move on to the next escalator.
Change is inevitable. Will you embrace the curveballs that life throws at you with enthusiasm and curiosity, or will you spend the rest of your life trying to go up the down escalator?
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