I read one of those cheesy inspirational sayings to my wife and tongue in cheek said "I'm your Pilot, Baby, you go where Daddy says." She calmly countered back, "yeah, you're driving, but the passenger tells the pilot where to go". So now I'm not sure which is the better position to be in. Sure the pilot has the controls, but that also means they have the responsibility of maintaining said aircraft and keeping control should an emergency ensue. The passenger in life, while not in control of the aircraft gets to go on the journey with some influence, or she is a captor and not a passenger. So does one really wish to get up earlier, make sure aircraft is flight worthy, filled with fuel and weather and destination are mapped out or is it better to just show up in fuzzy slippers point "I wanna go there" and cover your eyes with an eye mask?
I know I'm stretching a positive sentiment to ridiculousness, but there is still a point in there somewhere (I think). People that are driven just consider the extra work part of life. When I started college, my mom said we would all go to the local junior college, which was in next town over, 40 miles away. There were two commuter busses that took us there. The first year, being new, I just jumped in, but by the second semester, I had gotten the courage and will to try and learn how to drive the bus. Guy that drove the bus was all too willing to show me how, I still remember him saying "you wanna drive, sure" and got up off seat as it was going 55 and told me go ahead. There was no backing down, I jumped in seat and felt right with the world. Of course, I had never driven a manual transmission, so slowing down was tricky, but bus driver guy explained how to shift gears. Pretty soon, I was driving the bus, for fun and practice. During the summer I got my class A driver's license and by second year in junior college I was driving the daily commuter bus. I figured we are all going to the same place, but I am getting paid to get there and the bus won't ever leave me behind. In addition, I learned how to drive manual and this helped my parents, when they got me my first vehicle, it was a manual truck, which was cheaper than an automatic transmission.
I don't think a leader (pilot) minds the extra responsibility, it is just part of what it takes to get things done. I don't fret or whine when we go out of town, the keys are always in my pocket, it is just assumed that I drive. In the last couple years, I have even been letting my wife take the keys, it is nice, to a point, to be driven. But I get antsy, I feel like the vehicle feels better when I am driving.
My wife is too cool about letting me lead the world (in my head). We went to Disney World a couple years ago, driving, of course. It is about 21 hours from Austin to Orlando. I drove and told her she could drive when I got tired. Being a night-shifter for last 19 years, I said, I'll get us through the night, no problem. Well we left fine and I did drive through the night and in the morning I felt a little tired but we'd stop and I'd get coffee and she would talk to me and I'd argue with the boys about something or other. Finally, I said no more, I didn't know how much longer to get to the condo we were staying in, but we fueled up, I sat in the passenger seat, closed my eyes and 15 minutes later, she wakes me. We're here. She still makes fun of me, that on that trip, she drove her fair share to help me out. I don't get the credit for getting us there completely.
Luckily, I have a wife who is maybe even a better leader than me. And a superior leader will let their staff do what they are trained to do. Maybe I am not running the show as I want to believe, but really I am just a great chauffeur. As long as I have the keys in my pocket, I know I won't get left behind, so that is ok with me.
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