On Not Dropping

I have been insanely busy at work lately. One of my soon to be former co-workers (lucky guy landed himself a new job) was saying, ominously, I thought, that the reason we are so understaffed is intentional. This is a private company and the owner pockets more if he is slow to hire replacement workers, meanwhile everyone who is left knows that the staff shortfall is temporary and works harder, expecting (hoping) the void will be filled soon.

There is a saying, He who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword. To me that is the same as the golden rule, Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Example, and reason for posting the platitudes. I do not like to drop people, even when someone says "oh go on without me". The truth is, nobody likes to get dropped. So to that end on Sunday I went for a ride and one of the guys who came out was having a hard time keeping up with the pack, so I slowed down and rode with him. Thanks to the rain we decided to abort and take the Go train home and only did about 90km, but at least we got out and had what for me was a gentle ride through scenic South Eastern Ontario. It was a nice ride, maybe a little slower than I might prefer, but really I don't care. To me the main thing is, on the route I took, nobody got dropped, nobody was left alone to fend for them self and nobody had that horrible knot in their stomach of "if something goes wrong I am up a creek, 50 or 60km from home with no support", sure they are 50 or 60km from home, but at least they aren't alone and that makes a world of difference.

A slower ride, with good company is much better than a faster ride alone, or with hammer heads. If it means I have to do all my sprinting on my way to work, well worse things have happened.