Promises not kept

After 9/11, I had made certain promises to myself. I would never let a piece of paper become the most important thing to me, I would always trust my instincts, and I would always evacuate if a fire alarm sounded in the office (false alarm, malfunction or otherwise)...

And yet today, on a sunny, blue sky day similar to that day in September almost 6 years ago now, I am ashamed to admit I was busy with 2008 budget spreadsheets and didn't want to walk down 5 flights of stairs. I kept working, quickly trying to save as much of my work as I could, in case there was something really wrong and I didn't want to have to start the process over.

It was nothing serious, the fire department never even showed up (so it must've been a malfunction) and we were let back into the building after a short while outside...but how easily that promise to myself was forgotten.