By working in the pharmacy, you understand being careful. Carelessness can hurt people. And being negligent about care can make you responsibile for this harm and cost you. The same is true in all aspects of life. Lack of caution can hurt. I came very close to killing Mike Sherrill because we didn't apply caution about a canoe trip. We went down Hatchet Creek when it was at flood stage. Not just any flood stage, it was a 100 year flood. The flood had washed out a major bridge. That day the canoe flipped and trapped Mike against some logs in the creek. At first, I didn't think I was going to have enough strength to lift it off him. If it had set down on his chest rather than his legs, he would have died. If I hadn't been strong enough to get it off his legs, he would have died in the cold water before I could have returned with help. Apparently the age I was at that time has been associated with risk taking behavior. That is probably why that age range has the high death rate it does. The greatest chance of harm comes when we are in an environment where we don't have control. On the creek, the waves and water were greater than a person's strength. No chance of control. But even minor circumstances can take our control away. They take our control but not the responsibility. The world makes us responsibile for behavior. The greatest influence on my risk taking behavior was recognizing that I had responsibilities. Also I changed when I understood where that behavior could take me. I realized that you and Nikki might need the things that I could provide. I looked forward to many things that I would enjoy and could explore as the future unfolded. All we have is our life. And that life can end. Or the choice we've made can make it misery. So it makes sense to choose carefully. What you do today affects tomorrow. This week affects the next. This year.... and so on. I was talking to Mr. Kirk last night. He had told Justin that he had the choice of being happy or not and it was really up to him. Whether in his job, or life, or where-ever! That attitude is pretty much right. But we can make that life so hard by choosing things which burden us. It is like being on a long hike. Our choices are like the weight we carry. We can burden ourselves or make the load light. But the responsibilites of life make the trip what it is. Other choices we make determine how far we have to go to get where we are going. Life makes getting to the destination necessary.