When It All Comes Crashing Down

This week... everything blew up. Okay, technically it came down. My wife and I just moved into a new house where we quickly discovered that a group of squirrels were contesting our sole ownership. We took the necessary measures to relocate the squirrel family and patch up the holes they'd carved out for themselves beneath our vinyl siding. We returned to the idyllic peace and quiet of our new home.

Imagine our surprise when we began hearing the fuzzy little critters again... this time directly over our kitchen! Our cats jumped into action and in the process tore through the tiles of our suspended ceiling, leaving some hanging, one with a gaping hole and two others on the floor beneath piles of chewed and filthy insulation. Fiberglass dust, chunks of insulation, chewed pinecones and squirrel poo covered everything in our kitchen. Every dish, every countertop, it filled our toaster to the brim (time for a new toaster, methinks) and even spread into the interior of some of the cabinets. It was a royal mess.

Over the next four days I spent a good 12 hours in the kitchen taking down tiles, ripping out ruined insulation, cleaning/disinfecting, replacing broken tiles and securing the handful that hadn't been destroyed by our feisty 20-pound "kitten." Patching the entry hole the squirrels used is going to be undertaken by a professional -- and for that I'm thankful.

But I don't tell you this to garner sympathy or to ask for donations toward the Anti-Squirrel League of America. I mention it because there are times in all of our lives where the world comes crashing down around us and how we respond to the chaos and disorder impacts not only ourselves but everyone who interacts with us. I wish I could say that I handled the falling ceiling with grace and poise, but I didn't. I ranted and panicked and mechanically shoveled insulation into garbage bags. I upset my wife and myself in my anger over the situation. I created emotional chaos out of physical chaos... and I didn't need to.

When things go wrong... when things go REALLY wrong... remember the wise and endearing words of Douglas Adams: Don't Panic. Things are rarely as bad as they seem at first. Keep your wits about you, take a step back from the situation and think instead of feel your way through to a solution. If six people just /gquit in discontent, spend some time trying to find out why rather than recruiting the first six players you can find or (worse) lashing out at those who left in anger.

Look for solutions instead of assigning blame. The first response to any disaster is to repair the damage. You can deal with preventing recurrences after the fact, but don't waste time pointing fingers when you ought to be dealing with the immediate situation. Blaming others is easy, presenting workable solutions is difficult.

Don't lose sight of the final goal. In the case of our falling ceiling, the immediate need was to have a clean kitchen, but the ultimate purpose was to have peace of mind regarding the soundness of our home. It's far too common for people to focus on the immediate issues to the detriment of the big picture. If your guild is founded on relationships, don't make decisions that put loot before those relationships. Short-sighted decisions may solve a current problem but will always create a larger one in the future.

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Jon Blevins is an officer of In Vino Veritas.
He's a pastor, husband, gamer and expert squirrel trapper.
He lives in Minnesota, where ketchup is considered spicy.