The shark

There once was a swimmer who went for a dive in a shark tank. As he swam the backstroke, a Great White Shark came to the surface and bit off his left arm. Well, as you can imagine, the swimmer was quite offended by getting his arm eaten. In fact, he got very angry at the shark.  He huffed and he puffed and then sulked.  The shark, being a shark, came back up and ate the man’s other arm. Well, this really pissed off the swimmer!  “How dare you shark! This is not fair!”  The shark, being a shark, came back up yet again and ate the man’s legs.  As the man bobbed up and down on the surface, he got even angrier!  “I’m never going to forgive you shark!”  The shark, being a shark, wasn’t offended. He just was hungry. So he ate the rest of the man for dessert.

The End.

Morale of the story, when you get bitten by one of life’s sharks (layoffs, natural disasters, economic downturns, disease, random sucky life events, etc.) don’t complain about the shark. The shark will always be a shark. Get busy and get out of the tank.

I saw this first-hand after Katrina.  I’ve seen cancer survivors take charge of their lives, too (Lance Armstrong, for instance).  I know people who have lost their jobs in corporate layoffs and went on to soar.  Yes, things may not be fair. They may completely suck. But that’s the very moment you need to get busy.  Complaining may feel good but it won’t get you to safety.