Lessons in water fountains

patience is the hardest

Teaching strategy for thirty years was a joy. Perhaps not unmitigated joy but a true gift. It forced me to remember to check assumptions, look at the other person’s point of view and objectives, and the role of actions creating consequences, all of which is rather important stuff to me.

As I noted to the 2024 seminar from whom I took the end of year briefing yesterday, time is the hardest element in strategy beyond any doubt. Americans, by our nature, are the most impatient people on the planet. Our history is one of PROGRESS! Moving ahead! Innovation! and getting beyond the past, whatever portion we seek to relegating to the prior era which might have been 30 seconds ago. That is who we are and how we roll.

Turns out, however, that moving on may leave us acting too quickly. We expect change instantaneously all too often, whether it’s growing up as teenagers (ok, maybe it was just me) or as a nation expecting others to adopt our norms. We expect people to be clever as we think we are, and thus willing to embrace our solutions and lifestyle and other things.

Life moves much more slowly than that, at the personal or nation-state level. Equal rights for citizens of any colour, creed, or other preferences are a perfect example as the Fourteenth Amendment provided equal treatment but what equality we have has evolved over more than a century and a half since our nation affixed that Amendment to the Constitution. And I don’t pretend we are entirely there yet by any means. Ponder where we were in 1724.

Other states are similarly still struggling with the issues but they are indeed openly struggling with them as gay rights parades or women’s groups or other manifestations of working towards a more universal approach to societies around the world. They are not on our timeline but the question is under debate—a first, if tenuous step—in most of the world today. Could we say that in 1924? I doubt it. I don’t pretend everyone will ever mirror us nor should they but our expections do outstrip others’ choices much of the time as if it had to all be on our timeline.

Actions create consequences but they may be rather glacial in unfolding.

I had a personal reminder this morning, a gratifying one. It is admittedly simplistic but it’s a lesson worth remembering.

Our beloved catsitter (when we have the privilege of travelling) obviously disapproves of our gravity-driven water dispenser for the cats. Our two darlings, Eleanor and Harry, drink a lot of water so a decent-sized water container to prevent their dehydration sat near Eleanor’s dish. We realised, after a while, that our CatWhisperer (she is elevated beyond being a sitter as she is so good) left multiple clean bowls in the dishdrainer but the cats had their own food dishes. It dawned on us she had put out dishes with fresh water each day rather than rely on the stale water in the gravity dispenser. I started to cringe when we came home when I realised she was, of course, right that cats are renowned for preferring running water.

The problem was that when I had procured a running water fountain (yes, I know: this is definitely a ‘First World’ problem), Harry ran away from it. I mean he ran away. Harry Truman is about ten or eleven, a huge tomcat, and scared of the tissue on the couch with me. My husband explains to me that as a neutered lad, Harry obviously lost his cojones both literally and figuratively. But, that meant he would not try the fountain so I returned it to Amazon after a couple of days. Eleanor, always the queen at 18 or 19, went with the flow (literally) so she was fine with whatever but demanded her water.

I saw a less daunting water fountain for kitties when visiting family recently so I figured we would give it another go. I ordered a similar fountain last week but the predictable ensued. I put Eleanor down near the fountain, she processed what she was seeing for a minute, then started drinking. I put Harry down (a task as he is getting rather hefty these days) near the fountain but he nearly ran me down to escape.

Damn.

I did notice day before yesterday that Harry was no longer awakening either of us at 0400 for a drink out of the faucet, a rather annoying habit he had acquired over the years. Since I get up early anyway, it wasn’t such a problem for me but I also knew he had been awakening his favourite (aka, my husband) often. On balance, I was delighted to realise the reprieve but didn’t think much about it, figuring it was anomalous.

Then it hit me yesterday that perhaps my action of buying the fountain, leaving it running, and going on with life might be having a consequence. I mentioned it last night but had no evidence it was anything other than wishful thinking on my part, though my husband assured me that he had seen Harry at the fountain.

Well, I hadn’t.

Until this morning. Not once but twice in the past twenty minutes, Harry sidled up to the running water in the fountain, took several drinks, then walked away with that satisfied look only a cat can have as it licks following a delicious meal (all relative here, people) or quenching drink. My, my, my. I had indeed found a fountain (thank you, Jennifer) that he will use.

This is beyond a minor example of how patience pays off in life. The challenges our nation faces are certainly well beyond the implications of this anecdote so I am not minimising threats or opportunities in places we all hear about so frequently. But, it is a most welcome reminder that actions and consequences may include a delay of unknown duration. We don’t like delay; we like successes so we can solve the next problem. Life doesn’t always accommodate us but it bears reflecting on whether we can indeed wait at times to give things a chance to work before assuming the consequences are not to our liking.

Just a thought for this beautiful Saturday starting the month of June.

What incidents can you cite where you forgot something you thought had been unsuccessful only to find the contrary true? I suspect it happens more often than we realise, thank goodness.

Thank you for reading ACC today and any other day. I appreciate your feedback, your comments, your rebuttals, and your support, especially those of you who subscribe financially.

In case you have missed prior newsletters, here are the stars of the show with EleanorRoosevelt getting pride of place as the queen in her dotage, followed by Harry Truman’s girth.

Be well, get outdoors, and be safe. FIN