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Showing posts from February, 2020

Even More Out of Control

Last week, I wrote that we often do not have control of things once they leave our hands.   In this week’s post, I want to take being out of control to a whole new level. Our flight home was supposed to take about 30 minutes once we took off.   But, after two attempts to land, our plane was rerouted to another airport to take on more fuel. Our flight from the refueling airport to our original destination was supposed to take about 35 minutes once we took off.   But after another two attempts to land, we had enough fuel for just one more landing attempt before we would have to fly again to an airport for refueling. It was all a bit nerve wracking.   As each of the landings was attempted, there was enough visibility that allowed the plane to begin its descent.   But, in each case, as we were within just a few miles of the airport, an incoming cloud would sweep in and reduce the visibility to the point below which it was safe to land.   It was a very obvious case where we co

Out of Control

It wasn’t necessarily hidden in the 24 hour news cycle, but it also didn’t get the super heightened attention.   The stories, however, did surface and for many it was quite disheartening to learn that plastic items that were supposedly destined to be recycled were often ending up in local landfills. The reports further indicated that some of the countries that had previously been buying plastic items were no longer doing so.   For the most part, it was just pure economics for those countries.   But for some of the individuals who had been consistently and diligently putting plastic items in the recycling bins, doing their part to save the planet one plastic container at a time, the disturbing reality was that their noble efforts to recycle were not achieving guaranteed results. The overarching reality is that we often cannot really obtain guaranteed results or outcomes.   We can do everything that we know is good and right but once it leaves our hands, we may not be able to c