Perspective

Chuck Lai — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 17:21:00 -0500

Every now and then an event puts everything in perspective for me. Today that event was the discovery of James Kim’s body. I used to work with James during my short time at CNET. I barely knew James since he worked on the editorial side of the house and I was on the product development side. My interactions with him were limited to friendly hellos as we passed in the hallway.

On Monday, I was ecstatic when Kati and the kids were found safe. I was hoping for a happy ending for the Kim family but sadly, James was not found alive. A tragic event like this really puts life in perspective. It seems so trivial to worry about blogging, new product features, SEO, site traffic, etc., when there are more important things in life, such as quality time with family and friends.

There are times in a work environment when everyone is on edge or stressed out over a missed milestone, a server going down or a Google dance. Just remember the majority of us aren’t saving lives. Some of us are simply building web sites. If we all take a step back and look at our work issues, it’s not worth wasting the energy to worry and stress over these relatively trivial issues. With a little perspective, you realize that there are more important things on which to focus your time and energy.

Life is so short and precious. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a tragic event to remind you of this fact. My thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to the extended Kim family.

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Perspective