December 30
One of my
friends emailed me recently and stated he thought I was becoming quite the
revolutionary, now having lost my job twice in the same year on account of my
dissent of unethical practices. It reminded me that I had the inkling of a
thought the other day about how these situations can either serve to weaken an
individual or to strengthen him or her. It is how revolutionaries seem to be
born.
When I think
about people that led revolutions or led nations to greatness of some kind,
their success was often not the result of prior successes in life. By example,
Paris Hilton, I believe, will never be a revolutionary. She will make
headlines, but she will not bring about significant change to any society,
especially not at the paradigmatic level, which is often the result or the
cause of a revolution. The status quo is what keeps her going; if society were
different, especially economically, all her money might not be available--and
what kind of life would that be for a princess? I think more of people like
Lenin, Hitler, Guevara, Castro, and Marx, Mandela, and even someone like Paul
in the Bible. Many of these types of people wrote a significant number of their
works while in prison, being persecuted for the things they believed in. It's
not to say that all their beliefs were necessarily good ones, but the point is
that their beliefs were a minority view, and because they were bold enough to
stand against the majority, they were persecuted.
As I stated
before, that persecution either weakens or strengthens the individual. For
some, it weakens the spirit and the mind, and they just give up. For others,
they realise that they haven't anything else to lose, so their fire is fueled
instead. I feel that I have become the latter. Even thinking back to my job in
Mexico, there were unethical practices going on there too, and those of us that
questioned it were given a very rough time. My only job where I haven't faced
this problem is when I worked for the government. That was a good job! Anyways,
the more these things happen, the more I want to stand up for what's right. I
am not an apathetic Canadian. I care about all kinds of social issues. It's not
to say that others don't care, necessarily, but what are they willing to
sacrifice to stand up and defend what they care about?
The fact is that,
whether people like it or not, there are absolutes in this world. Not all truth
is relative; not all morals are relative. There is no circumstance I can think
of under which rape is right, for example. It's simply wrong. Am I to be
persecuted if I raise my voice to state my belief that rape is wrong? It is not
to say that people cannot be forgiven or pardoned ever, but the act in and of
itself is still not right.
The trick is
being able to choose your battles, to know if you should fight them, when
to fight them, and what way to fight them. Much wisdom is required.
And each battle will be confounded by the people involved in them. You, as a
person, are only one inconsistent figure in the equation. The more people
involved, the more confounded the situation. We, as in individuals, are limited
by our own humanity, and I believe it is difficult to be able to trust that we
will do and say what's expected or what we would even like to do 100% of the
time. We become our own unknown variable. That is why I believe so much
caution, calculation, and wisdom are required. In any case, some of the
revolutionaries I listed above chose physical battles, overthrowing the
government and what have you. That is usually not necessary. The wise
revolutionary will question the battle first and then use what seems to be the
most effective method to fight the battle, if it is worth fighting at all. I am
a revolutionary, I hope that I learn to choose my battles well and how I fight
them wisely.
What I do know is
this: My abnormal psych prof began the class with a discussion about what
constitutes abnormality to begin with. Indeed, the definition of that has
changed over the years, but one thing in particular he said has really stuck
with me since I heard it. He said that we think of abnormal people as people
that have something wrong with them, some genetic mutation, mental disability,
brain damage or whatever. Sometimes, it's just a person that doesn't fit into
the mainstream of society in the way they think and act (think "Nutty
Professor" here). It's not to say that the person is bad or wrong, but we
sometimes think of them that way anyways. My prof used this analogy: Think of
people in society as moving in one direction as a stream, rushing in some
areas, bubbling along in others, but they always go the same direction. Then
there's one guy pushing against them going upstream, pushing through the
pressure and trying to go the opposite direction. What all the other people
don't know is that they're headed toward a cliff and are going to fall off and
die. It's only that one guy that will live because he's going the right way.
(This analogy assumes that self-preservation is important to you). So the prof
said, maybe what we think of as abnormal is just one eccentric guy that's
willing to go against everyone to do what he knows is right. Since that time,
I've wanted to be that guy. Whether it's speaking on behalf of those whose
voices have been stolen from them or teaching or doing motivational speaking, I
hope that I will always defend my integrity and the principles on which it is
based. If I keep losing my job for that, then at least I know it's for the
right cause. I want to be a quiet diligent worker, but I also don't want to
turn a blind eye to something that may be wrong. I want to find out if reality
matches my perception, and then do something to bring about change if possible.
If I am a revolutionary, you are witnessing the story of my birth.
1:52 PM | Read comments (1) | Permalink | Philosophy
December 28
One
day when I was at the gym a couple of weeks before Christmas, I was watching
the TV screens while on the treadmill. I am critical enough about advertising
as it is, but this one ad came on that really alarmed me. The commercial shows
all these kids opening Christmas presents and hating them; one kid throws a
tantrum, while another kid simply throws his gift off the side of a cliff, and
another pulls the tree down whereas another one jumps all over his to crush it.
All the kids react in some extreme way--something I would have been spanked for
as a kid--and I thought maybe it was an ad for this show that TLC was having
where they take these kids having tantrums about Christmas and get them in
shape before they pull the tree down. I was sorely mistaken. The ad was for
some type of store, a department store or something, saying, "Make sure
you get the right gift this Christmas. Shop at X." It's not that the ad
was in poor taste, but in our current generation of entitlement, parents are
already giving in to their kids too much as it is, and here, this ad is playing
into that poor parenting technique. Why allow these kids to throw tantrums, not
to be thankful for the superfluous wealth they already have? Parents have
enough trouble as it is disciplining their kids, and now we have the media
trying to influence our minds by allowing us to think it's ok to give in to our
our kids when they're greedy and selfish. This is certainly the true meaning of
Christmas. I guess most people I know are not so duped by advertising, but I
hope that most people do look at them critically so that we aren't influenced
by such a shameful gimmick.
7:18 PM | Read comments (3) | Permalink
December 26
In
all truth, I don't mind being a party pooper sometimes. This time, I'm hoping
rain falls on the Santa parade. It's easy to argue that Santa and all that he
represents detracts from the reason Christmas is supposed to be about, but what
bugs me more about it is the hypocrisy we exhibit in supporting his existence.
I suppose the same goes for Easter Bunnies and Tooth Fairies, but most parents
teach their children not to lie, and then they go and tell their kids that
these characters exist knowing full well that they don't. Now, I don't know
very many people that were traumatized by finding out that Santa doesn't really
exist or that don't trust people because their parents lied to them about these
characters. The consequences are not necessarily negative, but I don't know
that lying is justified regardless of the consequences--and it's lying on a
very large scale, on a societal level! So I haven't really developed this
theory very much; maybe this isn't really as bad as I think. Just a thought
that has been running through my mind lately with the Christmas season upon us.
4:04 PM | Permalink | Philosophy
December 23
Well,I
really haven't succeeded in the job market this year. It has been a learning
experience for me, not just what I've learned about other people, but also what
I've learned about myself.
I've
learned that I have a strong personality, that I don't allow myself to be
walked over when I see unethical practices going on. If there is an injustice,
such as in the last place I worked, I will fight for the person against whom
the injustice was committed if that person is not given the voice that he/she
deserves. My reputation is not important. If I lose my job because of something
I did wrong, then I have myself to blame, but if I lose my job because I was
not afraid to stand up for the right reasons, then it's worth it. The last
time, it was really gossip and labelling that contributed to conflict in my
workplace. This time, there was a more serious case, which is probably best
left unmentioned in a public forum such as this, but in this case, instead of
helping a person that had some inappropriate things inflicted on her, the
people that should have been helping her and standing up for her were only
concerned about themselves and trying to protect their own names and
reputations. The old boys' club still sticks together.
The
unfortunate reality is that I think these things go on a lot more than we
think, but in what job does your own assertiveness and 0-tolerance for truly
unjust and unethical practices at work serve as an asset rather than a trait
that could get you fired? And that doesn't mean protesting outside people's
offices, sending around nasty emails to co-workers about everything you
disagree with or anything like that, but simply standing up to the people
committing those acts, whether that means facing them personally or going to a
higher authority that actually would have the power to make sure those
practices are no longer continued. If I thought long enough about it, I might
even be inspired to take up law and become a human rights lawyer. I am so
fascinated by the topic, but at the same time, would it be the most effective
way to impact the human spirit, to bring about real change in people's hearts
enough that they would convict themselves of their own wrongdoing and want to
change their own lives? I have never known this to be the case. The bad guy
often seems to win, but my satisfaction in the case of my last job is knowing
that as much as they think they've got rid of all the problem people, it's the
problem people that are left, and they will start to turn on each other when
they realise that things still aren't working right. At least that has been my
observation in other "gang-like" groupings.
I've
noticed that the readership of my blog went quite downhill during the last
month. Between starting my new job and my laptop dying, I had little time to
write anything here. But for any of you out there reading this, will you dare
to examine all sides of a situation, and if there is just cause, would you be
willing to put yourselves on the line for yourself or someone else? I don't
believe it's always a good idea to make a big stink about everything, but as
Canadians especially, we tend to be so apathetic that we rarely take a stand on
anything. May we be instilled with a deep sense of what is right and wrong, and
may we be willing to live steadfastly by those principles. I know I could never
feel like I had any integrity if I tried to live any other way.
11:00 AM | Permalink
December 16
A brief update, for those of you that check here in
some sort of regular fashion. I started my new job and am soon planning to quit
it for various reasons. It has been taking up a lot of my life recently, and
that combined with the fact that my laptop died last weekend and is now getting
repaired, I haven't been on the Internet much to be putting any updates here.
Hope you haven't missed me too much :o)
3:06 PM | Read comments (1) | Permalink
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