Senate, Senate, Senate and tsk, tsk, tsk

There has been so much fodder for the politicians this week since Parliament came back in session that it’s all we can do to get home to watch the soap opera of a Scandal.  The drama, the lies, the hurled accusations, the lies, the melodrama, the lies, the backstabbing, the lies, the stance for due process and did I mention lies?  I enjoyed the question period today on The National but I did have to raise eyebrows as they talked about the “good week the Prime Minister was having”.  Again, did I mention the lies?  So how could Harper possibly be having a good week because who in their right mind believes one word he has said after the remarks made this week (or ever given what he has said this week)? 

       I thoroughly enjoyed Rex Murphy’s take on the Senate this evening.  Earlier I had been inclined to believe that while I want to be rid of those cheating senators it ought to be done with “due process” but Rex Murphy enlightened me.  It’s true, why should we accept the high moral ground some of the senators are taking now in defending democracy when the fact is that most of them have been appointed as political favors, the senate has run on very loose or non-existent rules so why should they suddenly defend democracy?  Oh right, because now they are threatened with having their gravy taken away; and no, you can’t lick the spoon first.

       I write tongue in cheek because the journalists who are “telling it like it is” are the ones who could be lining up for a position in the senate someday too.  Let’s face it, wouldn’t any of us jump at the chance of getting on the gravy train?  The trouble with most of us is that we have too  many ethics to ever get a chance to be offered such a post.  With all the scandals we have seen over the decades is there anything we can learn from them?  I strongly suspect that anyone who runs for politics, who in any way is going to land on a tax paid salary, is most likely a sociopath.  How else can one explain the scandal statistics?  The ones who are really doing any good are those in the trenches, doing the work of the people for poor pay and little reward except the satisfaction of doing good (and one hopes, no harm).

       Noblesse oblige? Now there’s a myth for you.

What's Up Lollipop?

When Madonna came out with her song “Material Girl” back in 1980’something I thought “yep, that’s me, the material girl”.  I like my stuff, my clothes, my jewelry, my ornaments, my stuff.  Generally though I have been pretty restrained in my buying power until the last couple of years when I let my inner Shopping Girl take over and roar.

       Now as I hit old age I find myself turning inward and doing the conventional soul searching on what do I really need?  I haven’t taken any giant leap towards “down-sizing” but I am questioning what I want.  Even as I enjoy my new hobby of card making I wonder, why?  I find myself looking more seriously at my mother’s comments when she says “do you really need it” or “why do people buy all that junk from China”?  Oh dear, is this a sign?

       A therapist would tell you that people buy and accumulate things as a way of feel secure; it helps to cover up their feelings of inadequacy.  Or so they say.  So then I wonder, why do people who already have a lot of money and things, why do they feel compelled to have more, more and then more?  Why do they begrudge others from having “enough” while they accumulate multi-millions?  How empty are they inside that they can never have enough?  People who keep sticking their hands in the cookie jar are deviants from normal social behaviour.  How is it that people such as they get into positions of power?

       What fills you up?  Is it material things, activities, relationships or something else.  As we get older and wiser, I hope we are able to be introspective enough to recognize who we really are.  And know what we really need is character, not stuff.

Ageism

This morning I am sitting here nursing a sore knee and wondering what I could possibly have done to it.  Did I twist it in the night, do I have rheumatism or did the chiropractor over work the body?  In any event I am missing work today, or rather “working from home”.  Now those quotes could be interpreted in various ways, the truth being that yes, I actually sit at my computer for the bulk of the day working on whatever comes across my computer screen or else I work in the background completing various tasks online.  But bosses tend to be suspicious of staff that “work from home” not believing they are doing anything at all.  Indeed, I had one manager make a comment that the staff would be in their pajamas and my thought was “does it matter as long as they are working”? 

       All that aside I find myself becoming more sensitive to that term “ageism” in the work place.  I reflect back to when I was a youngster first entering the workplace and often noting that the middle aged staff seemed to have difficulty with new concepts or processes.  I was 18 and I was trying to teach a 40 something the simple task of working the telex machine.  Not for the life of her could she grasp how to turn the machine on, much less type on it.  I could not understand it.  Forty years later I look at my generation of workers and wonder, why can we learn things at rapid rates when this poor woman couldn’t understand a two step process?  In my company we learn at least two new processes a year, some years up to seven, and we seem to nail them almost immediately.  Are we smarter or are we just so inundated with change that our minds are nibble and attuned to learn?

       I recognize that there are individuals who slack off but those people come in all age groups and for the most part I see my peers going the extra mile in professionalism, coming in early, leaving on time or later, working through lunch hours, following up loose ends and basically giving their all at work.  I therefore question why employers only look at a spreadsheet that indicates that Susie, Dolly and Molly are “expensive” and they should be the first to be “attritioned”.  Are they really so shortsighted as not to realize that they get four times the amount of work out of the senior folks than they get out of the majority of juniors?  Not to mention the history, quality and added value of the work they put out.

       This article is dedicated to the wonderful women that I’ve been privileged to work with, associate with and acknowledge as peerless peers.  I salute you.

What's In A Word?

Have you ever noticed it when your whole conversation seems to be one long string of clichés?   Language can be an interesting study whether you are learning a new language or dissecting your native tongue.  Even when I sit in meetings I hear a lot of jargon, buzz words, business clichés and while I sit silent and merely take notes I wonder if anyone knows what is being decided.  Sitting on the train I hear snippets of conversation; whether conversation between passengers (rare but it does happen) or on a cellphone chat but a lot of what I hear is “yeah, yeah, yeah” or other nod words.

       Now I am studying Spanish and I am amazed at how many meanings one word has.  They tell us that Spanish is one of the simplest languages to learn but that is deceiving in my opinion.  Just learning the alphabet is complicated because the letters are pronounced quite differently depending on the rest of the word.  Perhaps I am too used to English to see that it is equally complex just in the alphabet but somehow, I don’t think so. 

       So picture this, we have a room of perhaps 20 people made up of 5 Koreans, 4 Danes, 3 Venezuelans and 8 Canadians.  Talking about money.  How do you think that conversation is going to go?  The nuances of 4 very different languages can produce some very interesting results even at the most basic level.  Is it any wonder we have wars?

       I think politicians should be required to study languages, not least of all their own.

Another Thanksgiving Weekend

Another year has gone by in a flash and I sit here thinking about what I am grateful for this Thanksgiving weekend.  Just saying the words “the traditional family, friends, harvest, work, health” at first seems lame but then I think about how many people don’t have the traditional family, friends, harvest, work or health and I say “give your head a shake” because it is never enough or wrong or lame to be thankful for what we have.

       Indeed, Thanksgiving weekends come and go, we say the words but do we actually feel them?  Deep down, do we feel what it is to be thankful or grateful?  I don’t think we do, on a daily basis, because we take so much for granted.  We take the country we live in as safe and sound, but unless we pay attention to the news, pay attention to what happens around us, we don’t really realize that being Canadian is a wonderful privilege because it could be so much worse.  We don’t realize that having a home and a job are fantastic givens in our lives when many people don’t have homes or jobs.  More than we realize.

       Even looking internally, forgetting about what others have or have not, do we know what it means to give thanks to the universe for our lot in life?  I said to my Mom yesterday as we drove to the grocery store “I am so grateful for the wonderful childhood that I had” and she replied “It makes me feel good to hear you say that”.  It was a simple, impulsive exchange but it was genuine.

       I’m hoping everyone did look at their lives with gratitude and amazement because we really do have a lot to be thankful for.

       My cup runneth over.