So last night I was walking to meet up with someone at a bar, and I passed by this store which just had its facade completely collapsed. I mean, everything: awning, twisted metal, wood, concrete, bricks. Only thing left of the front of the store was cinderblocks. There was a big crowd around the rubble, though I was assured that nobody was under it.
Now --
Had I left the house 5-10 minutes earlier, there would have been a good chance that this facade would have fell on me.
It was directly in my path, about one block away from the bar. There would have been no other path I would have taken to the bar at that point -- even if I took a shortcut.
Had the facade fell on me, I would most certainly have been in a hospital today. It would have been one moment -- a handful of seconds -- that would have had anywhere from a minor to a major impact on my life.
Now, I was running late to meet my friend at the bar -- had I stuck with the plan to arrive at the bar on time, it would have put me in the path of the collapse. And I was running late because I was being a perfectionist and somewhat inconsiderate, and continued to write another page of Cloak & Dagger even though I promised I'd meet my friend at a certain time.
The lesson thus learned is,
Be a perfectionist and inconsiderate. If you have to chose between working on your own creative project and being attentive to the needs of others -- go work on that project.
And it's okay to show up late for appointments. Because showing up on time might mean that you could have a building fall on you.
--> genius
--> bonus, the scene I took extra time to write took place in a bar
