Ah, nothing makes you feel powerful and important like a brand new rat speaking up and calling you “Sir!” And I was just about always called “Sir!” in spite of the fact that I have been a “Ma’am!” since the day I was born.
Being in charge is both great and really scary, I think. It’s great because you get to make the decisions and call the shots. It’s scary for the same reasons. If your decisions result in a successful outcome, everybody pats you on the back and declares you a hero. If your decisions lead to, shall we say, negative consequences, then you’re pretty much screwed because you were the one in charge.
I have screwed up more times when I was in charge than I care to remember. When I left the Reserves, I breathed a sigh of relief over the fact that my days of being in charge were over. And yes now I find myself once again the one in charge. Of Girl Scout cookies, this time, not of millions of dollars of military equipment and hundreds of people’s lives, but still, I’m in charge and I’m on the hook should anything prevent the successful delivery of several hundred boxes of delicious cookies to our very hungry customers.
The thing is, once you’ve been in charge, you never stop being in charge. Doesn’t matter if you suck at it, you still wind up being in charge again and again and again. Because you have experience, even if it’s only experience at screwing things up.
Have fun this week!
