Tuesday, June 1, 2010

DISQUALIFY US!

I worked for a few years in the public information office of a nuclear physics lab. My job was to write brochures and scripts explaining accelerator physics to the public, and as if that wasn't hard enough, all the facts  came with qualifiers. It's really difficult to coin a catchy phrase with "electrons accelerated to almost the speed of light." "Electrons zipping along at nearly the speed of light." No matter how you say it, the message is that the electrons are not going the speed of light.

I remember complaining to anyone who would listen, "Can't you just accelerate them TO the speed of light?"

Definitive statements are so much more compelling. It seemed a small thing to ask...

And now, I find myself desperate once again to dispel qualifiers from my life: we're almost ready to go sailing, we've almost sold the business, if we sell the business, when we sell, after we sell, when we're sailing, if we leave in July, if we leave in August, if we sail by the end of the year, if the loan is approved, if the deal closes in June, maybe we'll sail before the end of the summer.

The weight of the qualifiers grows heavier each day.

We thought we might hear about loan approval in two weeks, and each business day past two weeks drags by. We hear rumors of SBA money running out. We wait. We watch. We toss and turn. We answer the unasked question with a shake of the head.

Can't we just GO? Set an actual departure date?

Definitive statements are so much more compelling. Okay, maybe the speed of light was not a small thing, but this? It really does seem a small thing to ask ....

2 comments:

Suzanne said...

The business will sell! You know how life falls into place. You sold your house when the time was right for the house to go. You sold Isabella when the time was right for her. You'll sell the business when the time is right for Chip's. Remember you are following your dream. A wonderful dream, one that few people have the guts to follow. You're dream will come when the dream is ready for you. . . .

GW said...

If it were easy, everyone would do it.