Heroes are as afraid as we are

                “Good morning”. I greeted the receptionist at the medical lab. “My doctor sent me to get blood work done.”

                “Please sign in. Someone will be with you shortly.”

                Moments later I was watching a nurse walk around gathering needles, a few vials, a rubber band, a bandage and a couple other things she would be using in order to draw my blood. “Please stick the needle in my left arm. I will be donating blood on Friday and I need my right arm to be fine by then.”

                “That’s not a problem but you shouldn’t worry about that.”

The nurse went on to tell me that I could draw blood from the same arm multiple times for several days without my veins collapsing.

                “So you are donating blood uh. I should donate blood too. I have a rare blood type people are always looking for…but I get sick when people draw my blood.”

                I found that comment interesting and even a little humorous. A person whose job is to draw blood all day long gets sick when others “do onto them” sort of speak. That evening I pondered on what the nurse had told me and I began wondering if I could come up with examples of other professionals who may be in similar situations as the one she was in, i.e. being afraid of or having an adverse reaction to something they have to do as part of their daily jobs. “What about a firefighter who can’t deal with heat.” I gave some thought to this example largely based on my own personal feelings toward heat. I definitely would have never considered firefighting as a career. “…or a sailor who gets seasick constantly.” As I tried imagining how such a person might had felt every time he or she boarded a ship I had sort of a flash back and got transported many years into the past to the home of a relative who lived in Miami. On that day many years ago I happened to be talking to a person I knew. This was a highly decorated air force pilot I will call Derek in order to protect his identity. A great guy with an easy going personality and taller than your average pilot which gave him a very imposing presence.

                “Dude, I am seriously considering parachuting off an airplane! It must be an awesome experience to feel like you are flying, seeing the whole wide world on display right in front of your eyes. Of course for someone like you this has to be an everyday, routine thing but for those of us mere mortals who have never done anything like it that must be kind of cool. The rush’s got to be unreal!”

                “It definitely is a very different experience. I can vouch for that.” Derek replied less than enthusiastically while avoiding looking me in the eye.

I knew something wasn’t right so I probed “So, if you were me, do you think you would find it to be an awesome experience?”

“Well” Derek started. “I’m going to tell you something you cannot tell anyone. But I mean no one at all. Do you promise you will keep it a secret?”

“Fine, what is it already?”

“You see, I don’t really enjoy parachuting.”

“You don’t?”

“No, not really. In fact I hate it.”

“Wow! Why is that if I may ask?”

“Well, you see, I have a little problem with heights.”

At first I was stunned. “I must be misunderstanding Derek’s comment” I thought. But then I noticed his countenance and I realized he was waiting for some reaction on my part. I looked at my friend and asked “Wait, are you telling me… you are afraid of heights?”

“Yep.”

I couldn’t help it and I cracked up laughing “I’m sorry but this makes no sense. You are a pilot for Pete’s sake! You have flown over enemy territory and have shot down a number of enemy planes. You have fought a war atop a fighter plane! How can you possibly be afraid of heights? That’s nonsense!”

“That’s exactly how I’ve been able to hide the fact that I’m afraid of heights. No one can conceive the thought that I, a pilot, can be afraid of heights…but I am.”

“Dude, you get on a plane every day. Turn the darn thing on and fly away…every day! Every day you are up in the sky…with nothing under you other than a piece of metal…and air, lots of air between that metal and the hard, rocky crust of planet earth. You are very high up above every one’s heads for many hours…EVERY DAY! How can you be afraid of heights? Sorry but I don’t get it.”

“I know. It sounds really absurd when you put it that way but the fact is that I am afraid of heights. Flying an airplane is not a problem for me! You see, when you get on a plane is like getting in a car. When you take off you feel as if the air under the plane is a road. I don’t keep looking down to the ground, only ahead. But there’s just a little problem I have to deal with on a regular basis that scares the heck out of me. In order to be an air force pilot you need to log a number of parachute jumps every (I honestly cannot remember if he told me pilots needed to jump every month or every year but it was one or the other) and that is when I really stress out.”

“My god, you are serious, aren’t you?”

“Yep”

“So how do you do it? How are you able to do something you are afraid of over and over again?”

“I just force myself to do it. There’s no other way.”

“Hell, why did you become a pilot then?”

“Because I love flying!”

What can I say, you have to admire a guy who stares down his fears on a pretty regular basis and overcomes them every time. When you think about it, the fact that this guy fought a war should be a telltale sign of his courage but what is truly remarkable about this is the fact that he is afraid of some of the same mundane things the rest of us are. The difference is that while many of us try finding ways to avoid what we fear, he confronts them head-on every time. Something to consider while we live our otherwise more pedestrian lives.

Please don’t share this with anyone, OK? After all I promised I wouldn't tell!

I wrote this piece on my Microsoft Surface.

Heroes are as afraid as we are

                “Good morning”. I greeted the receptionist at the medical lab. “My doctor sent me to get blood work done.”

                “Please sign in. Someone will be with you shortly.”

                Moments later I was watching a nurse walk around gathering needles, a few vials, a rubber band, a bandage and a couple other things she would be using in order to draw my blood. “Please stick the needle in my left arm. I will be donating blood on Friday and I need my right arm to be fine by then.”

                “That’s not a problem but you shouldn’t worry about that.”

The nurse went on to tell me that I could draw blood from the same arm multiple times for several days without my veins collapsing.

                “So you are donating blood uh. I should donate blood too. I have a rare blood type people are always looking for…but I get sick when people draw my blood.”

                I found that comment interesting and even a little humorous. A person whose job is to draw blood all day long gets sick when others “do onto them” sort of speak. That evening I pondered on what the nurse had told me and I began wondering if I could come up with examples of other professionals who may be in similar situations as the one she was in, i.e. being afraid of or having an adverse reaction to something they have to do as part of their daily jobs. “What about a firefighter who can’t deal with heat.” I gave some thought to this example largely based on my own personal feelings toward heat. I definitely would have never considered firefighting as a career. “…or a sailor who gets seasick constantly.” As I tried imagining how such a person might had felt every time he or she boarded a ship I had sort of a flash back and got transported many years into the past to the home of a relative who lived in Miami. On that day many years ago I happened to be talking to a person I knew. This was a highly decorated air force pilot I will call Derek in order to protect his identity. A great guy with an easy going personality and taller than your average pilot which gave him a very imposing presence.

                “Dude, I am seriously considering parachuting off an airplane! It must be an awesome experience to feel like you are flying, seeing the whole wide world on display right in front of your eyes. Of course for someone like you this has to be an everyday, routine thing but for those of us mere mortals who have never done anything like it that must be kind of cool. The rush’s got to be unreal!”

                “It definitely is a very different experience. I can vouch for that.” Derek replied less than enthusiastically while avoiding looking me in the eye.

I knew something wasn’t right so I probed “So, if you were me, do you think you would find it to be an awesome experience?”

“Well” Derek started. “I’m going to tell you something you cannot tell anyone. But I mean no one at all. Do you promise you will keep it a secret?”

“Fine, what is it already?”

“You see, I don’t really enjoy parachuting.”

“You don’t?”

“No, not really. In fact I hate it.”

“Wow! Why is that if I may ask?”

“Well, you see, I have a little problem with heights.”

At first I was stunned. “I must be misunderstanding Derek’s comment” I thought. But then I noticed his countenance and I realized he was waiting for some reaction on my part. I looked at my friend and asked “Wait, are you telling me… you are afraid of heights?”

“Yep.”

I couldn’t help it and I cracked up laughing “I’m sorry but this makes no sense. You are a pilot for Pete’s sake! You have flown over enemy territory and have shot down a number of enemy planes. You have fought a war atop a fighter plane! How can you possibly be afraid of heights? That’s nonsense!”

“That’s exactly how I’ve been able to hide the fact that I’m afraid of heights. No one can conceive the thought that I, a pilot, can be afraid of heights…but I am.”

“Dude, you get on a plane every day. Turn the darn thing on and fly away…every day! Every day you are up in the sky…with nothing under you other than a piece of metal…and air, lots of air between that metal and the hard, rocky crust of planet earth. You are very high up above every one’s heads for many hours…EVERY DAY! How can you be afraid of heights? Sorry but I don’t get it.”

“I know. It sounds really absurd when you put it that way but the fact is that I am afraid of heights. Flying an airplane is not a problem for me! You see, when you get on a plane is like getting in a car. When you take off you feel as if the air under the plane is a road. I don’t keep looking down to the ground, only ahead. But there’s just a little problem I have to deal with on a regular basis that scares the heck out of me. In order to be an air force pilot you need to log a number of parachute jumps every (I honestly cannot remember if he told me pilots needed to jump every month or every year but it was one or the other) and that is when I really stress out.”

“My god, you are serious, aren’t you?”

“Yep”

“So how do you do it? How are you able to do something you are afraid of over and over again?”

“I just force myself to do it. There’s no other way.”

“Hell, why did you become a pilot then?”

“Because I love flying!”

What can I say, you have to admire a guy who stares down his fears on a pretty regular basis and overcomes them every time. When you think about it, the fact that this guy fought a war should be a telltale sign of his courage but what is truly remarkable about this is the fact that he is afraid of some of the same mundane things the rest of us are. The difference is that while many of us try finding ways to avoid what we fear, he confronts them head-on every time. Something to consider while we live our otherwise more pedestrian lives.

Please don’t share this with anyone, OK? After all I promised I wouldn't tell!

I wrote this piece on my Microsoft Surface.