Source: Die Hard, my favorite Christmas movie.
WARNING: Harsh language!
Lesson: it’s never really okay to let your guard down. I covered this once before in my post about awareness. Always maintain a state of alertness, whether things seem normal or not.
Always be alert. Always be in Condition Yellow. Can we ever relax, then? Yes, but with caution and alertness.
In the movie Die Hard. New York police detective John McClain, played by Bruce Willis, goes to California to visit his wife for the holidays. He arrives at her office during the Christmas party. Someone he meets along the way gives him some advice on how to relax after a long trip - take off your shoes and scrunch your toes in the carpet. John does this in his wife's office, and it seems to help. But just then, a group of terrorists take over the building. Now John has to fight a building full of terrorists in his bare feet. Mayhem ensues.
Now, if John McClain had kept his shoes in his hand, ready to put back on, things would be have gone differently. Not for the bad guys, but for certainly for John.
The Rule started out as “Never take your shoes off when there are terrorists in the building.” But this implies that we can know when there are terrorists in the building, or a mugger around the corner. So I added the innocent phrase “at a Christmas party.”
Yippee ki yay, Mister Falcon.
