I walked into my meeting at 9:01 - not ideal, but a lot better than if I had stayed with my original plan. Instead of panicking, I looked at my options, realized I could park near the Pentagon, hop on the Metro and make head to my meeting. Traffic was horrible and I was not going to make my meeting. for a 9:00 meeting that I could not be late for. I thought about the great lesson in flexibility and adaptability I receive in the Marine Corps when I had to make an audible to my plans this morning. When you learn to roll with it, you learn to not panic when plans have to change. However, in the big picture, learning to be flexible in the small things allows you to be flexible in the big things. Marines could allow these types of changes to drive them crazy, or they can learn to roll with the punches - hence, Semper Gumby. This unofficial motto is a sarcastic take on the fact that things are constantly changing in the Marine Corps - formation is here, not it's there, it is a this time, nope we moved it to that time.
(If you are under 30 and do not know who Gumby is, his picture is over there =>, or you can ask your parents about him!) Marines have an unofficial motto: Semper Gumby - Always Flexible. The Marine Corps has an official motto: Semper Fidelis - Always Faithful.
