Missing All the Shots

There’s always a moment when action presents itself like an overenthusiastic volunteer, and you, for reasons that feel entirely valid at the time, decline. Mine involved a meeting. Not an important one. No lives were at stake. No treaties were being signed. It was one of those meetings where someone says, “Any thoughts?” in a tone that strongly suggests they hope the answer is no. And I had a thought. A fully formed, coherent, possibly even helpful thought. I remember it vividly because instead of saying it, I conducted an internal risk assessment as if I were about to defuse a bomb. What if it’s obvious?What if it’s wrong?What if someone says, “We already covered that,” in a way that implies I should never speak again? So I said nothing. Naturally, about 30 seconds later, Brenda from Accounting—because of course it was Brenda—said the exact same thing. It’s like she crawled into my brain and picked that idea right off the tree. The same way she “accidentally” took my lunch on Monday…