My Story: Why I do What I Do

I never thought at the age of 23, I would be held up at gun point but (pause) it happened. From that point on, my life dramatically changed.
I was 23 years old. And had been working in the banking industry for two years. The first year, I was in Cincinnati, where I fell in love, with SkyLine Chili. A 3-way, two cheese conies and a Dr Pepper was our standard Friday fare. Then I got promoted to assistant manager and transferred to Indianapolis. By the world’s standards, you could say, I was on my way. Recent graduate of Indiana University and working in corporate America getting early promotions.
But, between you and me. I hated it. I was dying a little every single day. It was like a death by a thousand cuts a piece of my life draining out of my soul each day I drove to work. But, that is what young men are supposed to do, right?
Get an education, get a job and climb the corporate ladder.
But, all that changed in January 1990 when my life was spared.
You see a masked and armed man robbed my bank and took me hostage at gunpoint. At first, I thought it was some kind of joke or training exercise. Come on, I’m in a nice part of Indianapolis, Geist Station. Beautiful homes, strip malls. People don’t rob banks in this neighborhood.
Oh yes, they do. You see, desperate people do desperate things.
He ordered me up from behind my desk and I realized this was the real deal when he collected the money from my teller and told me to come with him. As we left the bank he told the teller, if you call the cops, I’ll shoot him.
We got into my car and as he was fumbling with the bag of money, the keys, his gun and the handkerchief covering his face, he let his hands down so I could see him clearly. I looked directly into his eyes, two feet away when he raised the gun and pointed it right at my face. He said, “You look at me again and I’ll shoot you right here. You look out that window.” And I did.
As we drove behind a strip mall, I saw one dumpster after another and all I could think about was those movies I saw where the guys brains were shot out and splattered against the window. That is what I thought was about to happen when he slowed down and told me to get out. I did and took off running.
He sped away and I called the police.
After I told the police and the bank President what happened, I drove home to my apartment. But, I didn’t sleep that night.
I started to imagine what could have happened. What if I did get shot? What if I had died that day? What if I was a paraplegic and confined to wheelchair the rest of my life? What if?
Of course I thought about what God would say, after all, I wasn’t living my life for anything of real value. I was living for the next good time, the next girl anything to distract me from the reality that I was slowly dying in a corporate job I hated.
What haoppened to me? I was a go getter. I was an entrepreneur. In fact, my senior year in college I started a t-shirt business and had made over $25,000 profit, after all expenses working part time and going to school full time.
I traded that life for a corporate gig paying me $21,200 and two weeks vacation, IF it was approved by my manager. Who does that? I’ll tell you who does that. A person who bought into a matrix designed to suck the soul out of your life, enslave you with debt and dangle carrots in from of you always just out of reach. And I bought it. After all, that is what you “supposed to do.”
No more, never again. I’ll figure out something out on my own.
That life changing moment is why I do what I do. The last thing I want to have written on my tombstone is “Shoulda Woulda Coulda”
I’m going to die with memories, not dreams left undone. Our most valuable asset is the time allocated to us. Each day, 1440 minutes of our life clock is ticking away, never to be recovered again.
That is why Big Boyz Shorts was created. To tell short stories, that encourage you to go for it, to persevere and be the Big Kahuna of your life. There are no dress rehearsals, it is time for you to take center stage.