Ahhhh, life

So I thought I had hired an assistant. Set and ready to start tomorrow. But alas, her life circumstances took a turn in a somewhat foreseeable way, and she is no longer able to meet the hours I am looking for. Frustratingly the other person I liked already accepted another job.

Part of the reason I picked the person I did, despite the complications in her life, was that owning/running a barn, was something she dreamed of doing, but her life kept taking her away from that dream. Working here would have been a good step towards that reality, and if I can help someone along in that way, then I would like to.

Now it would be easy to take from this that I shouldn't have hired someone with her life complications, just like it would have been easy to forget about having students work off lessons after the initial few who let their sense of entitlement get in the way of the requirement that they actually WORK for their lessons....but if I had allowed those initial bunch of "spoiled" teens jade my opinion, then we wouldn't have Paige in our lives...if you can really call a world without Paige living.... but seriously, without Paige, I doubt Bugsy would have gotten the shot she did either, and having Paige around is helpful and enriching.

On a similar note, I was recently miffed by a recent Fugly blog post; the one about the three horses killed on a highway. Comments were all out to lynch this person who apparently had inadequate fencing and only fed her horses just enough to keep them from being taken.

But then the story fills in a bit; the horses didn't leave from her property, they were at a friends while she fixed her fencing....and that she lost her husband sometime in 2008.

Now my question was, why didn't Cathy (fugly blog writer) question why the community members who saw her fencing was falling apart, offer to help? Why, after loosing her husband, didn't the community help her see through this tough time? Help the horses AND the person so no rescue is needed!

Her answer was that 99 times out of a 100, the people just take the money and buy more horses....

But my point is even if her odds are accurate, isn't it worth putting yourself out there for that 1/100 chance you can make a positive difference and help someone achieve their dream (or in that case, hold on to their dream?)

Cathy's comment was that this lady should have sold her horses once her husband died. Seriously, if Rob dies, don't expect me to be thinking rationally for a while, and certainly don't think I would be able to make the decision to sell off my horsey friends at a time when I would likely feel very alone! What this lady likely needed was friends and helpful neighbours to hold things together for her so she didn't feel overwhelmed and alone.

The moral I am trying to pass on is this: sometimes doing the right thing doesn't always end with the "right" result, but it is still the right thing. Sometimes people take advantage of nice, but that doesn't mean being nice was the wrong way to be!

Karen