Boris Badenov
This is no laughing matter.
It's mostly timing and luck. I can't help but snarf at the dudes who wound up at a major at 26 and think their superior capabilites were the primary cause. Certainly, you can't be a joker and move up the ladder with no bumps. But you can most assuredly be NOT a joker and still NOT move up with no bumps. I reckon I've batted about .500. Never been unemployed for long, and of all the companies I've flown planes for (but it's a long list, sadly), only one made me want to go postal, and the rest were largely people with whom I'm proud to have been associated.
I know to an absolute certainty that there were some men and women I flew with long ago who've done "better" and probably a fair number of others who've done "worse". Here's the thing: With the rare exception, they were all just as good at operating aviation appliances as I was. Some of them were probably better.
Very little of this game is about "virtue" or "ability", in the main. If I could point to one factor that seems to separate the "happy" from the "un-", it's resilience and the ability to find the good in what they do have.
So, then, maybe being a plumber on FRED isn't so bad? I mean, yeah, you're not the Yoke Actuator, but like, how much does anyone who's grabbed the brass ring actually FLY anyway? The plumbers are there for all the fun stuff...all the stuff that happens in the cockpit, and more importantly, the other stuff, too. I'm not telling you not to "chase your dreams". If pumping the yoke and trying to get that greaser is where you draw value and meaning in your life, have at it. But I do suggest that you (and everyone else) try to keep their "dreams" in some sort of rational perspective.
You are not your job description. And trying to be your job description does not, from my admittedly unscientific inquiry, seem to lead to a great deal of human freedom and/or happiness. TIFWIW.
I know to an absolute certainty that there were some men and women I flew with long ago who've done "better" and probably a fair number of others who've done "worse". Here's the thing: With the rare exception, they were all just as good at operating aviation appliances as I was. Some of them were probably better.
Very little of this game is about "virtue" or "ability", in the main. If I could point to one factor that seems to separate the "happy" from the "un-", it's resilience and the ability to find the good in what they do have.
So, then, maybe being a plumber on FRED isn't so bad? I mean, yeah, you're not the Yoke Actuator, but like, how much does anyone who's grabbed the brass ring actually FLY anyway? The plumbers are there for all the fun stuff...all the stuff that happens in the cockpit, and more importantly, the other stuff, too. I'm not telling you not to "chase your dreams". If pumping the yoke and trying to get that greaser is where you draw value and meaning in your life, have at it. But I do suggest that you (and everyone else) try to keep their "dreams" in some sort of rational perspective.
You are not your job description. And trying to be your job description does not, from my admittedly unscientific inquiry, seem to lead to a great deal of human freedom and/or happiness. TIFWIW.