“Noli equi dentes inspicere donati,” – St Jerome 400 CE (AD)

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth – common saying

 “You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it.”  – Terry Malloy in On The Waterfront

“There was a long hard time when I kept far from me the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth.” – Charles Dickens in Great Expectations

A new opportunity will rarely be something we recognize from previous experience.

Back in 1983, I bypassed an outrageously good opportunity. Not because I was scared, but because I didn’t recognize it as an opportunity. I still laugh at myself and mimic the “I coulda been a contendah” when I think about it. It’s no use belaboring the mistakes of the past once you’ve learned the lesson. I still don’t recognize every opportunity that comes my way. I am a lot better though, at not letting my idea of just how things should look get in the way. Going back to 1983, here’s the tale.

It was early spring in San Antonio, TX. Early enough that the skunks were invading our morning formations out on the drill pad. Basic training for the United States Air Force (USAF) takes place at Lackland AFB. The recruiter had sold me on enlisting in Open General as my career field because the career field I wanted didn’t have any slots. I was pretty desperate, never make decisions in desperation if you can, so I took him at his word. Recruiters have many words, most are meaningless unless their in writing. Anyway, I had taken a few tests before signing up and a few more after enlisting. One of the tests said I was smart(er) and had some predispositions to be good with computers. They offered me training to become a computer programmer. In 1983. They would have paid me to become a computer programmer. So, of course I said No! I just went and turned down that gift horse because I wanted the pony I had in mind. My long-term goals did not have millions of dollars as a possibility. Queue “I could have been a contender.”

Not an organization to give gifts lightly, the USAF said nothing and promptly gave me a different career field, Aerospace Physiology. As a member of the USAF Hospital Squadrons, I did enjoy the field and I learned some very cool stuff. The cool stuff that has almost no civilian job equivalency. I received hazardous duty pay, walked the corridors of NASA at Edwards and the hanger at Plant 42 in Palmdale, CA but it wasn’t the pony. I never got the job I turned down the gift horse for. But I did retrain in 1987 into the computer programmer job. That horse was still there, but I had to ask for it once I realized its worth. It required me to re-enlist and serve another 4 years.

I’ve missed a few other gift horses over the years. They were a bit more subtle at least. The universe will keep sending us horses until we pick one. Hopefully we realize that we’ve been getting offered exactly what we needed rather than what we think we wanted. Take the gift horse. Say thank you. Let the Trojans worry about their own gift horses.