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If you’ve ever ended up in a public bathroom stall without toilet paper, you were not exercising good situational awareness.
There are basically two kinds of people in the world – those who don’t think it will ever happen, and those who think it will. The latter group are the planners.
Now, I’m not suggesting folks be paranoid, but at least be aware and have a back-up plan to your back-up plan, for cryin’ out loud.
I was flying to Florida last year when our plane took evasive action in flight. I thought it was trying to miss a bird, as those dirty creatures can be detrimental to aircraft engines. It really was trying to avoid a bird – a big military bird with US F/A-18 Hornet written on all of its wings and sides. Good Lord, apparently someone in the aircraft controller building was not aware of the surroundings and missed it. It was terrifying, and the line at the bathroom door was proof of it. I hope their human resources department was ready with a pink slip for the guy behind the controller to pilot radio that day.
My buddy put popcorn in the microwave where he works. You would think that the smell of lava-like burning popcorn would have alerted him to a problem, but he was not exercising good situational awareness. The dumb-dumb only noticed an issue after the fire department showed up to put out the flames that engulfed the entire second floor of his workplace.
I read somewhere that 78% of problems in life are caused by a lack of situational awareness.
My brother was cleaning his house when he heard water running. He continued vacuuming rather than check it out. Meanwhile, his 2-year-old son kept shoving everything from rolls of toilet paper and Hot Wheels to Legos and stuffed animals down the commode while giggling. His house-cleaning efforts were all for naught as he had to start all over again – as well as call a plumber.
I would rather take a few extra moments to notice my surroundings than to have an issue that will cause me to rip hair out of my own head while uttering words that have me momentarily forgetting I’m a Christian.
I heard about a guy who had his left thumb cut off once due to frostbite because the surgeon failed to notice the “remove this one” written in black Sharpie marker on his right thumb. That’s a situation that will never get an opportunity for a do-over.
Perhaps the patient should have exercised better situational awareness by noticing the surgeon standing on his left side before drifting off sleep.
Often other people’s lack of their own awareness will jam you up. I remember my Uncle Vinny set off a bottle rocket last July 4 without looking to see if anyone was nearby. The darn thing shot across my husband’s head like a skipping rock on a pond. He had to sport around what looked like two side Mohawks, as the whole center of his head had no more hair. Not a good look for a Realtor and part-time attorney. The burn mark down the center of his hairless scalp didn’t help.
Thankfully, Uncle Vinny never exercises good situational awareness and never saw my fist go upside his head after that incident. Perhaps being clueless pays off every once in a while.
Anngee Quinones-Belian of Murphy is a staff correspondent for the Cherokee Scout. Email her at anngeeq@gmail.com.