"There are 2 primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them." – Dennis Waitley

I was recently standing in a very long, slow moving security line at an airport. One would think I would be so numb to the process that the "long and slow moving" part would not be an issue anymore. Some days it isn’t, but this day, virtually everything about the "long and slow moving" part was an issue with me. As I was seemingly inching my way along, I happened to glance behind me for what had to be a small fraction of a second. It took a few moments to register, but my mind was telling me that something just wasn’t quite "normal" about what I saw. Now, we have all been in this spot. You want to look again at whatever caught your eye – but you don’t want to be too conspicuous, right? You don’t want to get caught staring at something – or worse, someone. So I did my absolute best non-obvious casual turn of my head behind me and it became quite clear why I wanted to look again.

Standing there was a young boy about the age of 10 or so. To look at his face, you would think he was a poster kid for a Norman Rockwell painting – red curly hair, freckles and all. He looked up at me with his instantaneously contagious smile, and when our eyes met I simply said, "Howdy, pardner!" He rather shyly acknowledged my greeting, and that is when I acknowledged that this was not just some regular kid. Much to my amazement, protruding from the tops of BOTH of his Nike running shoes were 2 titanium legs. As if that weren’t enough to get my attention, there was nothing below his left elbow where his arm was "supposed" to be. Well, we ambled along for quite awhile in that line before I could muster up the courage to ask him where he was headed. He told me he was going to go see his grandma in Missoula, Montana, for a week. I asked him what he was going to do up there, and he said he hoped to do some fly fishing and ATV riding with his grandpa. All of a sudden, the security line didn’t seem so long.

Before he went his way and I went mine, I finally asked him if he had any idea how many people he inspired on a daily basis. I could tell from his reaction he was far too humble and innocent to understand what I was asking. So I simply said, "Well, you sure inspired one today. Have a great trip, and catch some lunkers."

You see, it dawned on me that this young MAN has more challenges to deal with before he gets out of bed each day than I have had in my entire 56 years on this planet. What was so obvious was that he wasn’t about to accept his conditions as they existed. It was very clear he had already accepted the responsibility for taking his circumstances and condition and DETERMINING WHAT HIS REALITY WAS GOING TO BE. What a great lesson! The lessons are all around us each and everyday if we are open to seeing them.

And what about us? What choices do we make in our careers? It’s funny when you think about the fact that the only choice we don’t have is to not make choices. Let’s choose wisely.