The Cliff
It was September and Monsoon season in the Philippines.
The rain pelted the windows of my office in an incessant downpour and the wind howled as Taifun Maite, a hundred miles off the coast of the Visayas, was making its way to landfall the next morning. I had left our mountain hillside home very early that morning and was mentally preparing for what was to be a very trying and stressful day.
Sure enough, it was only 8:00 AM and the day was already going off the rails. I had just gotten off a telecon with the boss, “Big Joe”, the CEO of our multinational company. He was based in St. Louis and for him it was a late-night call. He was not happy. After eighteen straight profitable quarters, I had to tell him that the forecast for the upcoming quarter would be challenging. In addition, we would be delaying delivery of our new product launch.
We had been struggling with a new product line for the past few months and had experienced numerous technical and quality issues. “Big Joe” as he was affectionately called, was upset and demanded a recovery plan immediately.
Joe was a great boss, but, was also under tremendous pressure to deliver on our customer commitments.
“Aye Aye Sir” was all I could muster. We had been given an unrealistic timetable and the new process lines needed fine tuning. In addition, we had been impacted by raw material supplier delays. I was Managing Director of SE Asia operations and that’s the way it works in the corporate world….
It was my responsibility…Make it happen!
I had a meeting with my staff planned for 10 AM to work out an aggressive recovery plan and as I mulled different options available to us, and how to organize our recovery, my admin, Arlene, peeked in and said, “You have a call from Mr. Kim, VP and director of our customer’s Asia Pacific supply chain.
Mr. Kim was not happy at all with the forecasted delivery delay and demanded a recovery plan asap.
He “firmly” reminded me of the financial penalties that would be charged to the company for every day of delay.
Great….It was only 9:00AM and I already had my ass chewed by two senior execs.
Time to get things under control.
As I walked into the conference room, my plant manager, Joel, brings me more bad news. He informs me that the main steam boiler had just broken down and that we will need to bring in a specialist crew from Manila to repair it…What!
Ok, another hurdle, what does this mean… We will be delayed again by at least a few more days before we can get the cable production lines running again.
I told my admin to fly in the Manila maintenance crew by charter aircraft at a ridiculous cost due to the short notice and weather.
Ok, what more could go wrong….when right then and there, my IT manager, Julius knocks on the door and says…”I have some bad news”….What!!.....
In his quiet manner he said…
“Our entire system is down…must be the weather……Hopefully it will be back up later, but I wouldn’t count on it.”
Could be a few days.
“What!!!”
I meet with my team at 10:00AM as planned and we spend the rest of the day working out a credible plan.
It’s now 5:00 PM and another phone call from Mr. Kim which lasted almost two hours and then another status call from corporate headquarters at 8:00PM.
“Oh come on man….really!”
Finally, it is 9:00 pm and everything that could be put into action has been initiated and I leave the office.
What a day!….Looking forward to getting home and having a bowl of soup and hitting the sack.
Normally, my driver would take me home, but given the long day, I told him he could knock off a few hours earlier. I didn’t particularly like driving in Cebu, given the traffic and road conditions, but tonight I didn’t mind as my driver had to be home for his wife’s birthday.
As I got into my Ford Expedition. The rain was really coming down and the wind was already gusting up to 60 mph. This Taifun was going to be a bad one.
I made my way up the main road from the factory toward the Hillsides of Cebu where we lived. Traffic was abysmal, especially given the weather.
The normal twenty minute drive up to the house had already taken over an hour and I had just made it to the bottom of the mountain hillside where we lived. With this weather, the drive was nerve wracking. I almost regretted letting my driver off early.
The narrow mountain roads had few guard rails and were not illuminated. Between the blind curves and fallen rocks on the roads, it was a “white knuckle” drive to say the least.
I called my wife on the mobile and fortunately let her know I could see the house which was situated another five hundred feet above the torturous roads carved into the sheer cliffs and would be home shortly.
I relaxed for a few moments and felt exhausted from the day’s events.
I thought…”Man what a day…What more could go wrong.”
When right then and there a local jeepney comes barreling around a blind corner in my lane.
Oh man…WTF…I swerve to avoid a head on collision…but there is no shoulder or road left.
I began to plunge off an almost sheer cliff to the valley floor below.
In an instant, I knew I was going to die.
The car plunged headlong into the darkness,
At that moment, I was out of my body and in the passenger seat and saw myself behind the wheel as a young man when I was sixteen.
Incredibly, I felt a peacefulness I have never felt before. It was as if it was OK. Everything will be fine.
All of a sudden, my SUV hits a rock and it jars me.
As the expedition hits another rock in an almost 60 degree cliffside, I am thrown out of the car.
I always….always….wear a seat belt…but that night…maybe from sheer fatigue,
I had not buckled up…
As I hit the steep cliff hillside, I slid through the rain soaked jungle foliage and as I tumbled down, I see the expedition crash into pieces on the rocky valley floor hundreds of feet below.
I finally make my way to the bottom of the cliff and walk past the wreckage. The Local villagers surround me and ask if I need medical help. I feel like I am in a surrealistic state. Voices are faint and there is a calmness in me I have never felt before. I was happy to be alive, yet I wanted to hang on to that incredible peacefulness.
My wife had heard the crash from the house and intuitively knew it was me.
She drove her car to the valley floor and when she saw the expedition she broke down in tears.
At that moment, I walked toward her from behind the crowd.
I was rain soaked and covered in mud, but I lived.
I have thought about that night everyday for the past 18 years.
Actually….Death is not so bad…..It’s actually pretty peaceful…..But life is precious.
Gotta make it count.
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