Working on It

No one likes to feel undervalued. No one wants to believe that they are not competitive with their peers. Yet even as unemployment lines grow, job creators around this fine nation report refusal of work offers because folks simply take the posture that they’d rather stay home than work for “so little.” When crushing debt makes it impossible for a person or a family to make ends meet, a job that would otherwise have fed the family is no longer a solution. College students, once taking entry level roles, now are wrestling with giant student loan debt and credit card payments racked-up with spring break revelry. And we adults, once coasting on the accumulation of our toil, have no time for retraining or sharpening when a career transition occurs – loss of home equity and, in many cases, old fashioned over-spending have positioned us ill-prepared when things do not progress according to plan.

Women in Office

Presidential hopeful Herman Cain’s purported dalliances have been well publicized and lines of political contention have been drawn. It is the nature of the process of vetting our would-be leaders. But is there any other benefit that we can extract from this painful and often gory method? The obvious message to many (if it is not abundantly apparent, I strongly encourage another look) is to conduct one’s personal life with some degree of restraint. Playing duck-duck-goose around the office with someone else’s spouse is not going to remain a secret – ever. And, no matter how strict the confidentiality agreement, someone, given the right incentive, will talk. But is there more here? Does this case speak to the subtle work-place politics that continue to keep women under the glass ceiling and out of the White House?

Uncommon Request

Why is it so often those who give the most require the least, even as those who rarely offer anything are abundant with needs? At a buddy’s birthday party, I caught up with a longtime friend that I’d not seen for ages. He’s the kind of human that falls into the selfless camp. He served us all in the first Gulf War and has continued upon his return always working to make the world a better place. So, I was a little surprised when he asked me if I could take a meeting with him the coming week because of a favor he need to solicit of me. Asked if all was well, he naturally demurred positing that life had never been better.

Beating a Point

Recently I found myself at the table when a particularly vociferous disagreement erupted between two thinking and engaged folks, each with their own particularly impassioned views on life and the body politic. As personal insults were exchanged, it reminded me of the only physical beating ever to take place on the floor of the US Senate. In May of 1856, a member of that august body, Charles Sumner, had laid out a blistering attack on supporters of the US system of chattel slavery including remarks directed in personal offence at Senator Andrew Butler. Some supported Sumner’s then-considered uninformed and radical point of view while others did not. Regardless to the value of the discourse, Mr. Butler’s nephew, a member of the House of Representatives, believed that a line had been crossed and took it upon himself to enter the Senate chamber and promptly beat Mr. Sumner.