Not too long ago, I caught an airing of the 1996 motion picture Eraser on cable TV. This movie featured the then action star Arnold Schwarzenegger and the always lovely Vanessa Williams. If you haven't seen the movie, Arnold plays U.S. Marshal John 'The Eraser' Kruger and he is tasked to protect William's character, Lee Cullen, and ultimately erase her past life after testifying. However, along the way as in most action movies things go awry and that is when the action begins.As the action heats up Kruger and Cullen are being chased by Good Guys turned Bad Guys who have one thing on their mind and that is to erase Cullen from this existence as well as Kruger. Naturally, our hero and his charge find themselves in the reptile house of the Bronx Zoo (in New York City).
As always, the situation is grim, outnumbered by the bad guys and Kruger is running short on ammunition. It was something like 9 or 10 bad guys and only two bullets. Kruger is looking for the way out of the building to keep himself and Cullen alive long enough for her to testify.
Realizing that two bullets is not going to be enough to put a dent in the 5 to 1 ratio, you can almost see the "light-bulb" moment when he realizes what he needs to do. He shoots out the glass to the tank that separates numerous alligators from the reptile house visitors. As soon as the first gator hits the ground the attention of the bad guys is shifted from Kruger and Cullen and onto the potential man-eaters that are now scattering about. At that moment of shifting focus Kruger and Cullen make their getaway. Mission Accomplished, the witness has been saved.
While this is a Hollywood motion picture, it is still not bad for a man who suddenly finds himself outnumbered, outgunned, and (almost) out of options. By changing the situation and shifting the focus away from himself, Kruger was able to make a getaway and live to fight another day.
In changing the situation, he also changed the force ratio from 1 good guy/gal for every 5 bad guys to ratio that added one too many man-eaters. He also changed the ability for the bad guys to maintain their undivided attention on a man with a dwindling ammo supply.
He also reduced the time he spent in one location. Had he stayed in the reptile house any longer he would have given the bad guys a greater opportunity to completely surround the building. By changing the parameters of the situation Kruger increased his life expectancy and made it equal to everyone else in the building (except that of the gators).
How does this apply in everyday life? First of all, there will be very few times that you will find yourself charged with protecting Vanessa Williams in a reptile house at a zoo, but if you do you'll know what to do. Seriously, this can be applied to just about anything that we have to deal with in life. When things appear that they have you under their control you can always change the situation by shifting the focus and buying yourself some time.
Use the time that you have just been granted to regain control and get back on top of things. Do not fail to successfully exploit this limited opportunity and it is limited because once Kruger and Cullen left the reptile house there were other bad guys to deal with outside that building (but there were also more witnesses on the outside).
Remember, desperate times call for desperate measures and when it appears that hope has started to fade do what you must do even if it means shooting out the glass that separates the alligators from their food.
image courtesy of Stefano. Used under Creative Commons permission.
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