An Arrogant Man

An Arrogant Man

I am the weather
here. You shall wear your slickers
when I choose to rain.

If you resist me
I shall thunder and throw hail
down your robe, your shoes,
and you will bruise deep
all the way inside. I am
nothing without you.

August 3, 2010 8:35 AM

Many years ago I sat in a job review meeting and the A-hole (I never did like the guy) who was reviewing me called me an arrogant man. I was crushed. I could barely return to work, but it didn't matter much because the job finished and I was one of many laid back off. That layoff was normal in the market place for my line and meant nothing because only a superhero or a rapidly connected guy could survive beyond the layoff point under ordinary conditions. The job had served my purpose, getting me out of a former job that I needed out of.

The new information of my arrogance was hugely valuable and a powerful lesson of the huge gap that may exist between what I think I am doing and what I am actually doing. In any social environment other people get a vote in what I am doing and no matter what I think I am trying to do, if it comes across as arrogance then it is precisely that.

There are dozens of ways to do just about anything. A few of them are good, many are so, so, and a few are disastrous. I had no idea that my behavior was in the disaster realm. This was a watershed in my growing up, although it is perhaps embarrassing that I was already in my thirties...