Course Correction

I hope Pea isn't prone to spontaneous combustion.  

I remember very little from my grade 10 History class.  I truly believe that many undiagnosed concussions suffered while playing hockey during my teenage years have robbed me of my long-term memory.  Sadly, not much from History made it through to present day.

The one thing I do remember was my teacher using one of those "There are two kinds of people in this world" style speeches to describe how various leaders made decisions in times of conflict and stress.

"It's like driving a car," explained my teacher.  "Sometimes, when you're driving on a highway in a rain storm, the car will veer off the road slightly and onto the shoulder.  When this happens, some people will panic and frantically correct the problem by jerking the steering wheel back into the proper lane.  More often than not, this type of decision will lead to more issues because it was a knee-jerk reaction to the problem.

"Other people will slowly and calmly bring the car back from the shoulder and into the proper lane.  These are the people that don't panic when faced with a problem, but who take the time to think things through and make a suitable decision."

I love this story because I can pretty much put everyone I know into one of the two cars.  And lately, I feel like I have been dealing with a lot of people who are three steps beyond the frantic jerk of the wheel to correct course.

Here's an example.  I played in a company hockey tournament this weekend and watched in horror as several players were ejected from a game because of poor refereeing.  Granted, the refs were giving terrible penalties.  But the players who were ejected took the bad refereeing to the Nth degree by shouting obscenities, dousing the refs with water and engaging in over the top theatrics as they exited the ice. 

It's worth saying again - this was a company hockey tournament.  Talk about jerking the car back into the proper lane.  

Personally, I'm usually cool and calm in the face of a problem.  But let's be real, most parents aren't actively teaching their kids to flip out when the ref gives them a penalty, and yet so many of us are still getting kicked out of games.  This behaviour is obviously being learned somewhere.

Ah, but what are the odds that Pea will play hockey?  I've probably got nothing to worry about.  

I may not know what I want my Pea to become, but I sure hope she isn't prone to spontaneous combustion.