There are certain teas which cannot be wholly brewed without first being uncertain teas. But the bitterness of the brew stems not from the leaves, but from the seeds (of doubt, cynicism, and even uncertainty itself). Such uncertain teas take root, sprout, and yield their crop just like any other tea. And it is only at the first bitter sip does the grower sense and spit up the error of his ways.
The seeds of my uncertain tea were planted when I decided to leave the Company. It was perhaps not the right season to plant such things, but I could no more bear to be soiled by the toil of a Corporate Life.
And, for a time, it was good. But then I received my Employee Termination and Consultation Agreements.
My decision, it seemed, was no longer so good.
As the Legalese of these Agreements steeped a thick, binding, brambly broth in my cup, I could not help but think, 'I'm screwed'.
Were I to quit my signature (read: sign away my Freedom) on the first draft of those damning documents, it would have been the end of the world as I knew it.
No more Writing! No more prospect of becoming a Tube Mogul! No more Internets! (Not for one whole year!)
Yet, here I am. And with good reason: I uprooted my uncertain tea and made of it a certain tea. I took up my Professional Death Warrant and stated with conviction to the Company my intent: to write, to produce, and to be merry.
And so it was granted: the Agreements were revised to and defined my intentions as non-competition.
No more Doubt! No more Cynicism! No more Uncertainty!
In every one of us lies the power to deny that which might bind us to a fate less deserving....But you must be this power to wield the power.
To that end, I say: 'Where there is uncertain tea, drink and be merry'!
