Torture

“Hey, you never told me if you accepted the chairmanship of your department,” I said to Sam.

“Turned it down,” Sam said, smiling.

“Glad to hear it,” I said. “I know you really didn’t want to be an administrator. Was it tough to do?”

Sam pulled out his phone, tapped an icon, and showed me a list. “Pros and cons of taking the job,” he said.

I scrolled and scrolled, and scrolled some more. “Sam, there’s gotta be a hundred items here,” I said.

Sam laughed. “I tortured myself for days over the decision, thinking I really didn’t want it, but the dean would be mad if I didn’t accept the promotion. I thought I might get fired, or at least demoted. Do you know what he said?”

I shook my head. “Couldn’t guess.”

“He said he thought I would have made a great department chairman, but he was glad I wouldn’t be spending any less time teaching.  I tortured myself for nothing. I wasn’t going to drink over it, but I let something that never happened, never was going to happen, rob me of my serenity. Won’t do that again.”

Today I won’t torture myself over things that may never happen.

Dogged Determination ©2018 & 2019 by Ken Montrose

Dogged Determination is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/