Musings at Altitude

I’m watching Independence Day again.

I must have seen this 30 or 40 times.

And yet I watch it again.

I do the same thing with Armageddon.

The American President.

Die Hard…the first and second ones…those were the best.

There are a few others too.

They all have one thing in common.

Smiles at the end.

The bad guys lose.

The good guys win.

It feels good.

It’s uplifting.

It’s the way things should be.

I’m a sucker for a happy ending, with drama in between.

The funny thing – maybe sad thing – is that I see something new or realize something different about the movie every time I watch.

Something I missed the first.

Or second time.

Third, fourth, fifth.

Even on the 20th or 30th time to watch, I see something or hear something I didn’t the previous times I watched.

Because I don’t pay attention.

And I don’t listen.

And I don’t follow the dialogue or even the story line that closely.

I’m that way in business and in life too.

I need to hear or see things again and again to get more of the story and more of the meaning each time.

Some folks are blessed to get the message the very first time they hear or see it.

Not me.

Doesn’t work that way.

Same way with books too.

I can read the same chapter again and again and learn something new every time.

It’s a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because it’s exciting to see, hear and learn new things even the 20th time.

A curse because I miss key points, key lines, the clue that points to the outcome, or the main issue that once resolved could lead to that optimistic outcome.

Those that know me end up repeating things again and again.

Hoping that in one of the repeats I’ll actually catch the clue.

Those that don’t know me only tell me once, expecting me to be like others that may be blessed with a one time only receptor.

They’re disappointed when they then find out it didn’t work.

So I try new things.

Hoping to be different than I am.

But they don’t work.

I am who I am.

Again and again!