“Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda”: Don’t Let This Be You

The Wegonna tribe was the most powerful in the land. They were a proud and noble people, known for getting things done. They never took no for an answer and accomplished everything they set out to do. Nothing was too hard for them. They planted their crops every spring, harvested them every fall. They hunted in the summer, giving them meat throughout the year.

The Wegonnas eventually intermarried with other tribes, ones not as well known for their strong work ethic. Their offspring formed a new tribe, adopting the name Wecoulda. The Wecoulda were an imaginative people, full of great ideas. Unfortunately, they lacked the can-do attitude of their Wegonna predecessors so very few of their great ideas ever came to fruition. They struggled to survive and often had to reach out to the Wegonna tribe for food during the harsh winters.

As time passed the Wecouldas also intermingled with other tribes. These lesser tribes looked to others to do things for them and often lacked the ability, desire or drive to do things for themselves. The children of the Wecouldas and the lesser tribes formed the Somebodyshoulda. The Somebodyshoulda always thought someone else should do things for them. Plant the crops, hunt for food, store supplies for the winter. They wasted their days, looking for someone to do their work for them, time that would have been better spent helping themselves.

As time progressed the Somebodyshoulda’s began to die of from starvation and disease. Since no one fed them or took care of them they all began to pass away.

Then there was one male left, the leader of a tribe of one. As he succumbed to lack of nourishment and the cold of winter he used a rock to scrape a new name of his tribe on a boulder, the Weshoulda. With his heart filled with regret, he slipped into oblivion.

Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. If you have a dream make it a reality and don’t expect others to do things for you. Do it yourself.

This first appeared in The Havok Journal on January 12, 2019.

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Nick Perna is a Police Officer with the Redwood City Police Department in Northern California. He has spent much of his career as a gang and narcotics investigator. He is a member of a Multi-Jurisdictional SWAT Team since 2001 and is currently a Team Leader. He previously served as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army and is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has a Master’s Degree from the University Of San Francisco.