Latest / From My Mistakes / The Flood Zone
Transcript
- Steve: Welcome back, everybody. Welcome back to the From My Mistakes podcast. Big shout out to DJ Get Atcha. Y'all probably noticed that the music was a little bit different this time on this episode, big shout out to DJ Get Atcha. worked that up for me. I really appreciate that. if y'all are not familiar with him, you can go check him out on Instagram at DJ Get Atcha. That is G-E-T-A-T-C-H-A. DJ Get At ya. Y'all check him out. so like I said, welcome back to the show. we're just gonna start things off the same way we've been doing. we're gonna get into a Bible verse that is going to tie into the two moments I have to tell y'all about this week. so we're just gonna get right into it. The Bible verse that I wanted to talk to y'all about this week comes from Proverbs chapter thirteen, verse sixteen. And it says, Every prudent and self-disciplined man acts with knowledge, but a closed-minded fool who refuses to learn displays his foolishness for all to see. And I feel like when it comes to talking about, past mistakes and talking about learning from those mistakes is being able to recognize those moments where not only were you being a fool, but you were also displaying your foolishness for everyone to see. so That is the theme for this episode is kind of talking about some moments where I was basically displaying my foolishness for everyone to see. So we're just gonna get right into it. so the first story that I have for y'all comes from when I was back in, I wanna say the third grade. Now, I'm gonna preface this with I do not condone anybody doing this kind of activity. So if you're out there and you're listening, And you're still going to school or anywhere where you have access to public toilets, please learn from my mistakes and just don't do it. But I am going to tell y'all this story. so When I was back in the third grade, I was bad. I was not even gonna sugarcoat it. I was bad. I was bad. I was out of control. I was just doing a lot of stuff just to be doing it. and I I got in trouble quite a bit. I was constantly getting letters home from school and or, you know, being sent home early from school or you know, having those parent teacher conferences that did not go well. did not go in my favor. So this particular day, I don't know what what exactly I was thinking at the time. I was just kind of being destructive. You know, that's what they say about young boys, is that they're destructive. You know, just doing stuff just to be doing it. And that was definitely me. You know, I was I was always doing things just to be doing it. And I never really had a good reason for it. You know, and especially when my parents would ask me, like, what were you thinking? Or why would you do that? I would always say something along the lines of, I don't know, or I just I just felt like it. I don't know. so this particular day you know, if you're if you work in the education field, you know how students tend to always wanna ask to go to the bathroom. they come back from recess and the first thing they ask is, can they go to the bathroom? Or, you know, they they just get to class first thing in the morning and the first thing they ask is can they go to the bathroom? So this particular day I was in class, asked to go to the bathroom and went to the bathroom And I'm not sure how this even came about. But I had, you know, went to the restroom, I'm in there, I do what I gotta do, and I go to flush the toilet, and Something told me to just continuously flush the toilet. So that's what I did. So I'm in the bathroom. I'm there's probably four or five urinals in there. and I'm I started flushing the one I was actually using. and it started to flood because I kept flushing the toilet constantly, just and just back to back to back to back to back. And eventually the toilet would just start to run on its own and then eventually the the urinal would end up overflowing. I did this to all five of the urinals in the bathroom. As I'm going to work on the last one, another kid walks into the bathroom and catches me red-handed. I got my hand on the handle. constantly flushing it. And he sees that the other three or four are already flooding. they're still running. There's water everywhere. And I'm currently trying to get the last one to start flooding. I'm trying to, I'm just f flushing it repeatedly, trying to get it to start flooding. Eventually it does. And I ended up just walking out. I didn't think the kid knew who I was or, I didn't really think anything about it. Like the kid came in, he saw me, and I finished up with what I was doing. And then I left and I went right back to class like nothing happened. So I get back to class and it was maybe thirty minutes later. I don't even know if it was that long. the principal came and got me out of class because the kid who came into the bathroom told on me he went and told somebody because all the urinals are in the bathroom they're just in there flooding. The principal comes to get me and I'm in big trouble because I've basically flooded the boys' bathroom. So I'm in big trouble. And they contacted my mom, you know, contacted my parents. And at the time I didn't ride the bus when I was going to this particular school. I was actually walking to and from school. So y'all can imagine what that walk home was like that day. That was a long walk home. I actually took the scenic route home that day. As you can imagine, what was going through my mind because I knew what was to come when I got back to the house. yeah, my my mom, my parents were not happy at all. I think y'all know what came next. I don't really have to explain that. but yeah, I have no idea where I got that idea from to just go in there and be destructive and start flooding the school and flooding the toilets and the bathroom and whatnot, but I did and I was caught almost immediately and I tried to play it off like I had no idea what had happened or who had done anything and the other kid that came in there ended up pointing me out and I ended up getting in s pretty big trouble, for basically causing damage in the bathroom at the school. Again, I do not condone or advocate for anyone doing these type of activities. I'm just telling y'all about some of the terrible, terrible decisions that I made when I was coming up in school and there's a laundry list of those things. I was always in trouble for something or another. it's a just because you can moment and it's just because you can flood the bathrooms at school doesn't mean you should. the lesson that I learned from that was there's there's no need to, be destroying other people's property or being destructive for no reason. they have other ways that you can express your curiosity is what I'll say. you know, like I said, being being destructive and tearing up. public property such as you know, at school or anywhere else for that matter. You know, it's just gonna come back on you. It's like I've said in the past. episodes, y you're probably gonna get it right back and it's probably gonna come back to bite you soon. And in this case it did. it did not take long for them to come and find me and I'm pretty sure I got suspended from school for a couple of days for destroying their property and flooding the bathroom and all that kind of stuff. So I feel like that's a pretty a pretty easy lesson to learn you know, especially at the age that I was in the third grade, so I was probably seven or eight years old. I'm not sure how old third graders are now, but I definitely I definitely knew better. Like I knew what I was doing. and it it was just a terrible decision. But it's one that I paid for dearly. and it's one that I can share with y'all now. I sit back and laugh at it. but if you're listening to this episode and you're still in school, Or even if you at a job I would not recommend flooding the bathrooms at your place of employment or wherever you're going to school or anything like that. I'm sure by now it's probably a lot more expensive to repair those than it was thirty years ago. so that's the first story. that I have for y'all. again, just because you can flood the school toilets or public toilets in general doesn't mean you should. 'cause that can come with a hefty bill, especially nowadays. So the next story that I wanna get into, this story was back in two thousand six, when I was on my first deployment to Iraq. this was a situation where I really needed to be a little more mindful of who I'm talking to and who I'm surrounded by. you know, basically what I'm talking about and who I'm talking about It's just kind of a lesson in be aware of your surroundings. I'm not sure how long we had been there when this situation happened, We'd been out you know on patrol doing you know doing our thing, we had a couple of places that we had to go pretty much every day, whenever we would go out. You know, we go out on patrol, we check in with some some of the police stations that we were in charge of. we'd go there, check on them, make sure they're good, make sure they don't need anything, talk to the whoever's in charge of the police station there, maybe do some training with the officers there, and, just basically check up on And sometimes we would spend a little bit more time at certain stations than others. then other times, we would just kinda be out riding around and doing QRF duty and whatever else. so this particular day We had been out most of the day, we usually are. and when we you know, we came back and you know, downloaded, got done and whatever else. And at the end of the evening, I went to go take a shower. Now the showers are separate from the toilets. So no I did not flood the toilets in Iraq. but the showers and the toilets were separate. You had one trailer that was just for the showers it would just be the showers and maybe a couple sinks so you can, you know, shave and brush your teeth and whatever. And then the other trailer was just the toilets with a c well, you know, with a couple more sinks or whatever, but nobody really wants to brush their teeth in there. So this particular evening, I got my stuff together and I went over to the shower. they're not very large. five or six, maybe eight to ten shower stalls. you know, you you go in there and you make sure you got your shower shoes on. but you know, go in there, see if there's an open shower stall, you you get in the shower, close a little curtain. do you handle your business, you take a shower, you clean yourself up, and then, you know, you get out and shower and this particular day I was doing some complaining is basically what happened. So one of the other guys that was already in the shower area, he was talking about whenever his squad goes out, they're out all day and they they always end up missing, they miss lunch and they miss this and they miss that and they they be gone for, eight to ten hours and they, they just they he feels like they just be out too long and they don't really be doing anything and they just be out there wasting time and yada yada yada. So I decided to chime in and I started talking and I'm sitting there telling the guy, I was like, Yeah, man, I feel the same way sometimes. we go out there every day and not really anything is changing and my squad leader, he I I think my squad leader's cool, don't get me wrong, but I think we just be, you know, kinda out there BSing and just you know, we be out there just a little too long. Like I don't really see why we need to be out there that long And I'm just kind of sitting there talking about what we do on a day to day basis and the fact that I didn't feel like we needed to be out there that long And at this point, I had already taken my shower. cleaned myself up. I'm you know, I'd un put my clothes back on, all that kind of stuff. And I'm just you know, talking to the guys. Kinda like in the locker room, you know. Yapping and whatnot. And in between when I went into the shower stall and the time I got out, I did not know that my squad leader had came into the shower area. So I'm sitting there and I'm talking and I'm like, yeah, man, you know, I'm like I like my squad. I like what we do. I like my squad leader and I'm just, I'm I'm giving them praise, but at the same time I'm complaining about what it is we're doing and how much time we're spending out there. And wouldn't you know it, right about the time that I'm, at the tail end of this this little rant I'm going on, my squad leader finishes up his shower and he steps out of the stall. you probably could have knocked me over with a feather because I looked at him and he looked at me and was just like, he he had that look on his face, tell me how you really feel. And I was just like, hey, what's up, Sergeant? I didn't mean anything like negative by it or nothing like that. I was just, you know, kind of talking with the guys or whatever. he's like, Yeah, don't don't worry. I got you. And when I say for the next week, every day we went out, we stayed out at least another two or three hours longer just because I was the one who was complaining about how long we were already out. Now I don't know how many people who were actually in my squad know that story or if they know that I was the reason why we ended up having to be out a little bit longer and while we were doing all this this extra stuff. But that's what it was. It was because my squad leader had heard me basically complaining about what we do and he purposely kept the entire squad out longer than we normally stay out, which sometimes it wasn't that long and then some days it was But I was just complaining. I was twenty two years old and complaining about stuff and I just picked a very inopportune time. a very public time to wanna, you know, voice my displeasures about what we are doing. So if any of you guys are listening to this, I do apologize for the extra time that we had to spend out there. hopefully y'all will forgive me for that. to my squad leader, Sergeant Williams, I hope you'll forgive me. for the complaining that I was doing. I know I wasn't the only one. However, I was just the one who got caught. So the lesson in there is to be more mindful of not only what you're saying, but who you're saying it around. Now you know, at some point, you know, we've all complained about the manager or the teacher or somebody that's in charge of us basically, somebody that's got some authority over us and we complain about it. You and talk about behind their back and all that other kind of stuff. But but that's what I wanted to talk about with this and that's kinda what the Bible verse had something to say about is, you know, doing foolish things in doing those foolish things where everybody can see it. And sometimes it's not even always the fact that everybody sees it, but it's about the one person that did see it, that did hear it, that did witness it, that did, that was involved in the situation or whatever. it doesn't have to be a whole lot of people in that instance, it was one person. And it happened to be the one person I was complaining about at the time. So, That was a lesson for me to, maybe the next time I feel like I want to complain, maybe I should do it in my room where nobody can come out and surprise me. there's a time and a place to do those things. you just gotta be more mindful of what you're talking about and who you're talking about, because it it very well could come back to bite you. and it definitely did. So, just because you can complain about your leadership to other people doesn't mean you should. you know, and the one thing that I just I had to understand at the time was we were we were doing our jobs. We've all, been unhappy with our leadership for one reason or another, whether it's something that's justifiable or something that you've made up in your head. and I think that was a situation where just because I heard somebody else complaining about it, I just decided to chime in because I kinda had the same thought from time to time, Man, I really don't I'm I don't see why we need to be out here this long there was definitely a couple of times where I would think that but at the same time, I understood it, know, after the fact now, looking back now, I definitely understand it because we were doing what we needed to do and it wasn't about time, it was about the standard. that's one of those things that we talk about in the military is we don't train to time, we train to standard. So that's another lesson that I had to learn the the hard way. You know, I get it. We're we've all like I said, we've all been there. We've all had leadership. we don't necessarily we don't necessarily agree with. you know, your parents, your teacher, your husband, your wife. you know, it doesn't doesn't really matter. We have people that we that we, you know, at at some point you wanna complain about but there's a time and a place to do it. and it doesn't have to be, in a demeaning way either. You know, you can you can voice your frustration, but there's there's a tactful way to do it. you just gotta be a little bit more mindful, when you go about those things. I said that it's not uncommon for people to do it. It's just you gotta find a healthy way to do it and you have to find a more tactful way to do it. And just be mindful of, you know, what it can cause if it does get back to that person. And if it is, your significant other or your parents or whoever you can talk to that person too. you know, you can you can just bring it up to them, you know, and talk to them directly about it. 'Cause that's something that I maybe should have done too, instead of talking to other people, you know, outside of the squad. if I really felt that strongly about it, then I should have brought it to maybe my team leader and let him handle it with the squad leader or just go directly to the squad leader 'cause it's not like I wasn't able to talk to him either. So there are definitely some better ways to deal with those things So that's pretty much pretty much what I wanted to talk to y'all about those two just because you can moments. you know, just because can flood the school toilets doesn't mean you should. And just because you can complain about someone else, because you can't complain about your manager, your boss or whoever in public. does not mean you should. So again, those are the two two stories I wanted to talk to y'all about. I really do appreciate y'all coming out to hang out with me again. I thoroughly have enjoyed being able to share these stories with y'all and I look forward to continuing to do so. make sure when you do give the show a listen that y'all are liking it or following it, subscribing to it on whichever platform that you're listening to it on. I thank y'all for taking the time to come and hang out with me, listen to my stories. I hope y'all enjoyed them. and as always, remember, life will show you better than anyone can tell you. This has been From My Mistakes Podcast. I hope y'all have a good one.