Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Word: Harum-scarum





harum-scarum

[hair-uh m-skair-uh m, har-uh m-skar-uh m]

adjective
1. reckless; rash; irresponsible:
He had a harum-scarum youth.
2. disorganized; uncontrolled.
adverb
3. recklessly; wildly:
He ran harum-scarum all over the place.
noun
4. a reckless person.
5. reckless or unpredictable behavior or action.

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                How had everything gone so wrong?  It had started out great, and the plan looked great on paper.  And yet, everything was going out of control.  Maybe they had been a bit rash, but they thought they could handle any problems that might pop up.  They had all done their research and knew what they needed to do.  Or at least, they thought they did.
                It had started out fine.  Everyone knew what they needed to do.  Everyone had brought the things they needed to bring.  It had been a bit tricky to organize everything at first.  After all, all the people involved had their own ideas and ways of doing things.  But a bit of disorganization was to be expected at the beginning. 
                They had all gotten together and organized themselves, and the project started. In fact, it was going better than any of them had hoped it would.  Everyone played their part perfectly.  Then one of them got a bit too happy.  He became reckless and started doing things on his own.  The others thought they could compensate for their cohort’s unsavory actions, but it was all for naught.
                Once one of them started going outside the plan, it all fell apart.  They had worked for months, carefully planning every detail, and yet it fell apart in a matter of hours.  What they thought was a solid, stable plan was nothing but a precariously stacked house of cards, and that one man was the unexpected gust of wind.
                They tried to regain control, they really did.  Everyone worked harder and longer than they ever had before to get some semblance of control.  But when one problem was solved, another three would rear up, often because of the one problem being solved. 
                Plans were made, and then thrown out.  Order was restored, only for chaos to take over.  Someone would say something that would render hours of planning useless.  Another would ruin a plan by his or her actions.  No matter what the team did, the results were the same: raw, uncontrollable chaos.
                It became so bad that several of them left the project.  Others threatened to try and shut it down completely.  Others went mad, or else seemed to.  Only the few strongest members of the team held on.  They tried their hardest to keep the project afloat, and the team members all together.  But it was an uphill battle, and once the ball started rolling, there was no stopping it.
                The project had started with twelve people.  Twelve dedicated people that perhaps acted too soon or too rashly.  By the time people stopped abandoning the project, there were only three.  Three people left to carry on the will, the spirit of the project.  Three people that were in far over their heads.  They had no idea what they were doing, how to proceed, or even why they continued hold on.
                All they knew was that running a daycare center was harder than they thought it would be.
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It takes a special kind of person to run a daycare center.  All those kids running around, screaming and making messes with things that you didn't know could be used to make a mess.  The very idea terrifies me.  So my hats off to those poor, brave souls who enter into that field.  

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