Lessons from The Greatest Generation

In my profession, I often have the opportunity to interact with some incredible people. I am in medical device sales and my position allows me direct patient contact. As you can imagine, I have met some very interesting individuals.
I met one such individual today. I was asked by a physician to check the function of one of my company's devices in a patient that had presented to a local emergency room.
I arrived at the hospital a little behind schedule and was in a hurry to determine the patient's location. The nurse pointed me in the direction of the ER but commented on how much I was going to enjoy meeting this particular patient. She said he was quite kind and had a great sense of humor. Lucky for me. I was hoping that he would have a good sense of humor about my being so tardy.
I greeted the patient and as promised, he was quite friendly indeed. He immediately thanked me for coming to see him. I set up to check his device out while asking him some brief questions about his medical history. He informed me that he usually got his care at the regional Veterans Administration Hospital. As a point, I always ask a veteran what branch of the service they were in and where they served. I also make it a point to thank them for their service.
The patient informed me that he was in the Navy from 1944-46. Wow! A World War Two veteran. It is so rare to get the opportunity to talk to soldiers of that era. I was already feeling lucky to have met the man when he started to tell me what he did in the Navy.
He was a flight engineer on a B-24. He also told me that flight engineers had to be a gunner also. He was a port side gunner to be exact. I was looking at his date of birth on his chart and realized he was 17 in 1944! He confirmed that and told me he had asked his parents to approve of his enlistment early. What a hero this guy is. I remember what I was doing when I was 17 and it wasn't asking my parents to let me join the Navy.
He told me several stories about learning to fire the 50 caliber guns and how he cant hear very good anymore because he never wore his ear plugs on his combat missions.
After I finished up the analysis of his device, I asked him to forgive me for being so late to the appointment. He smiled at me and said, "Son, don't worry about it. That's what I call majoring in minor things". As I drove away from the hospital, that just played over and over in my head. How much time to you think we spend majoring in minor things?
We would all do well to learn from this great American don't you think? While in the service, I am sure he saw some truly major things. Yet he was able to see that by comparison, much of what we worry about in day to day life is relatively minor.
Work this week to prioritize better and put the minor stuff in its proper place. When you find yourself worrying or getting worked up over a situation, ask yourself if it is truly a major event.
Just the act of asking yourself the question will often cool you off a little bit. That will help make any situation a little bit more minor anyway.
Thanks for tuning in and don't forget to Take Back Your Mondays!