Indestructible

iPods are amazingly durable. Just the other day I dropped my iPod from five feet off the ground and it survived. A five foot drop can break a lot of things – cell phones, televisions, guitars. Five feet is high enough to hurt a person.

Nalgenes are equally, or quite possibly, more impressive. They say Nalgenes are indestructible – able to survive drops from tall, tall buildings. Their hardened plastic, on impact, will not shatter but will absorb the shock. They will be bruised and may even dent but you can count of them to not crack, and they will survive all sorts of abuse.

I love my iPod, and Nalgenes are awesome, but they are not perfect. My iPod’s volume button is stuck because I accidentally dropped my iPod on its side. I cannot raise the volume with the volume button, I can only lower it. Nalgenes also have their sweet spots. In high school we tested the durability of the water jug. We filled it up to its brim, capped it, and then threw it as high up as we possibly could, confident that no type of impact could possibly break it. It landed on its soft, plastic lid, cracking the only part of the bottle that wasn’t made from the same polycarbonate as the rest of the body. From then on I couldn’t carry my Nalgene around with me.

R. is a friend, a very durable friend. He can survive five foot drops and all sorts of abuse. He weathers life storms yet still keeps a positive outlook on life. He loses life’s games yet continues to carry on knowing he can win tomorrow instead. But over the past few months I learned he had a sweet spot as well. “No” is such an easy word to use and abuse. If you say it jokingly or seriously it can still have the same negative impact as an unintentional slap to the face. It doesn't matter what tone you say it in, you can even say it with a smile on your face, but what “no” infers, probably means much more to R. than to you or me.

So sorry R. for being a No person. Sorry for the abuse.