“If you’re not the lead dog in the pack, the view never changes.” – Lewis Grizzard
The first time I heard that quote from Lewis Grizzard, I cracked up. I immediately understood what he was saying, although I wasn’t sure I liked the message as it applied to me.
As I was traveling down the Interstate near my home recently, I was reminded of Grizzard’s bit of wisdom.
I noticed a fellow driving a small rusted out 80’s model pickup immediately behind a large truck hauling livestock. While there’s nothing really odd about that, what seemed strange to me, was the man had easy opportunity to pass and chose not to.
Now, I’ve driven behind a livestock truck before. We were on the way to see our daughter when I suddenly came up behind a truck hauling pigs that had just pulled out onto the 2-lane highway going in our direction. Unfortunately, it was impossible to pass in that area, so I had to follow him for a couple of miles. Immediately my windshield began to mist over and I turned on the wipers. As the windshield began to streak, I realized (too late) that it was a sunny day with no rain, and the odor was not exactly uplifting. (You should be able to figure this one out, although it took me a moment.)
Back to my buddy in the small truck. Having had this “less than joyful” experience myself, I have to wonder why he would follow this livestock truck so closely. I was trapped by a 2-lane road with no passing. He was on a 4-lane highway with plenty of openings to move on. Why would anyone get that close, much less stay there? Why would a sane, rational human not try to better his situation?
This was a man beaten into submission by life. Worse yet, he may not even realize it…
Then the thought occurred to me that I was no different than him. I wouldn’t stay behind the livestock truck, but there are lots of things and people in my life that I’ve tolerated as they dragged me down. It wasn’t that I couldn’t escape. I just didn’t make the decision to move on.
So, this makes me wonder:
- Why do we put up with people who don’t have our best interest at heart?
- Why do we put up with negative people who drag us down?
- Why do we put up with situations that cause us harm?
I think I know some of the answers:
- We get comfortable with familiar surroundings and people.
- And we really hate change and we fear the unknown.
- And, deep down, we think the future could be worse.
When you put these reasonings on paper, they hardly seem a good excuse for not moving on with your life, do they? What’s your tolerance level? How much pain can you take?
I guess this begs the question, if you see yourself in this situation, what are you going to do about it? Things won’t get better until you decide to make a change.
AWS
