Oh yeah.

[kv0925]

While I was at Animal Kingdom with the girls, we were walking across the bridge from Asia to Dinoland (which is a beautiful spot, by the way), and there was a man walking at a fast clip in the other direction, a few steps ahead of his wife, who was pushing a stroller with a kid or two on board. They were apparently in the midst of a semi-heated conversation, and he half-turns while he's walking, and says, rather bitterly: "Well, you know how *I* feel; I'd rather be at work! I'm sorry!" And to be clear, that's one of those "just deal with it" types of "I'm sorry," not any sort of actual apology.

And I was just like, wow. In my mind I imagined a scenario where I pulled the guy aside and asked him to take a moment and mentally project himself onto his deathbed, and ask himself if he thinks he'd be wishing at that point that he'd spent more time working and less with his family. It's one of those conclusions I guess I take for granted, but maybe that's just because I've actually thought about it, you know? I imagine for a guy like that, who has no notion of how swiftly his time is passing, no appreciation for the moments going by that will never return--maybe for a guy like that, life really is all about getting to the next practical triumph, and any time spent not chasing the next brass ring is time wasted.

It's a damn shame, though. And not just for him, you know? People. Sheesh.

Comments

[loxthebox.livejournal.com]

Wow.... He'd seriously rather be at work than spending time with his family? Probably shouldn't have gotten married then.

[cp.livejournal.com]

I should give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe I just happened to hear the 5 worst seconds of his life or something. But he didn't just say he'd rather be at the hotel, or home--he said at WORK, which to me means away from his family. That's just mean, no matter how rough a time they were having. At Disney World. :)