My wife gave me some great wisdom last night...
She told me that my last post may have been unwelcome if read by the wrong person, and that I had left myself open to being Googled. I was aware of this possibility when I started, but also do not want to be slapped by my words at an inopportune moment. Keeping this in mind I have committed the Lucas sin (George Lucas of course). The Lucas sin being that of revision. I have taken references to my latest job out of the Blog. Those of you that stumble across this will probably be able to tell what I am talking about, if you indeed know me and my history, but for the casual reader I will keep my current situation somewhat private. This one act making me a hypocrite, as I usally stand by my words and rail against those that are overcareful in the name of possibly future civil action. I guess there is being careful, and there is being paranoid, I will use a little care.
I did not think this blog might be my place to rant, but if it is in my mind and I feel like it should be on the page, I will go ahead and set it there and let the readers decide what is compelling and what is just dreck. (Do I have readers? I will buy a beer to any that tell me they are out there, though I may have to ship a beer to those far away)... SO dear reader with only a few days away from the midterm elections, I will return to my desk and work a bit, hoping that those in charge are concentrating on governing rather than the last minute attack ads.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Am I being clear?
This is my question for the ether... Mostly I try to speak plainly and mean what I say, but over and over I find that my words are not taken the way I mean for them to be. In my mind I am a fairly happy-go-lucky person that gets things done without being overbearing.
But lately I feel like i need to reasses this inner vision of myself. Several of my coworkers find me to be a little pushy or even a bully. Can this be true, the guy that just wanted to be everyones friend is a bully in disguise? Many of the things that were taught during my years in school seem to have changed. I alway felt like I was plugged in, and pretty hip to trends. Lately it seems many of the traits that were seen as good leadership skills, are now seen to be pushy in a work situation.
Perhaps I have always had a problem with subtlety, and the world has gotten better at manipulation and petty games. I don't enjoy gossip or meaness at work. I feel that we are already spending too much time in our chosen roles, why mess things up further by having a bad attitude about your co workers. I have never met anyone that was such a bad person that I have felt the need to make him or her look worse behind their back. Usually the grain seperates from the chaff in the end (as someone like my grandfather once said...)
So where am I missing out, why do several people in this organisation talk behind my back, or see me as a thret to them? Some of the issues I understand in retrospect... The person doing fundraising while on probation will always see a new fundraiser in the office as a threat. But as I observed above, that person is gone now, to a less stressful place, and here are the rest of us dealing with the fallout.
This blog is becoming my avenue to put down all of this stuff, and view it later for clarity. Hopefully the readers of these words will find some use in the ramblings of my thoughts. I like my wifes blog as a reader, because she does not tackle the big stuff, but so far gives little vignettes of her day in a short paragraph of two. I aspire to that sort of brevity and high level of communication. If you are curious about my darling and her clear thinking mind check out www.blancodesinki.blogspot.com
Ok away with morose thoughts of everyone disliking me and such things. the chief offender just walked into the building...
This is my question for the ether... Mostly I try to speak plainly and mean what I say, but over and over I find that my words are not taken the way I mean for them to be. In my mind I am a fairly happy-go-lucky person that gets things done without being overbearing.
But lately I feel like i need to reasses this inner vision of myself. Several of my coworkers find me to be a little pushy or even a bully. Can this be true, the guy that just wanted to be everyones friend is a bully in disguise? Many of the things that were taught during my years in school seem to have changed. I alway felt like I was plugged in, and pretty hip to trends. Lately it seems many of the traits that were seen as good leadership skills, are now seen to be pushy in a work situation.
Perhaps I have always had a problem with subtlety, and the world has gotten better at manipulation and petty games. I don't enjoy gossip or meaness at work. I feel that we are already spending too much time in our chosen roles, why mess things up further by having a bad attitude about your co workers. I have never met anyone that was such a bad person that I have felt the need to make him or her look worse behind their back. Usually the grain seperates from the chaff in the end (as someone like my grandfather once said...)
So where am I missing out, why do several people in this organisation talk behind my back, or see me as a thret to them? Some of the issues I understand in retrospect... The person doing fundraising while on probation will always see a new fundraiser in the office as a threat. But as I observed above, that person is gone now, to a less stressful place, and here are the rest of us dealing with the fallout.
This blog is becoming my avenue to put down all of this stuff, and view it later for clarity. Hopefully the readers of these words will find some use in the ramblings of my thoughts. I like my wifes blog as a reader, because she does not tackle the big stuff, but so far gives little vignettes of her day in a short paragraph of two. I aspire to that sort of brevity and high level of communication. If you are curious about my darling and her clear thinking mind check out www.blancodesinki.blogspot.com
Ok away with morose thoughts of everyone disliking me and such things. the chief offender just walked into the building...
Monday, October 23, 2006
Wow it has been 18 days!
The time slips by, catching us all unawares. Since my last post I have seen several milestones. I turned 39 on the 15th of October, my daughter has broken two teeth and almost crawls, my wife and daughter and I have gotten sick and (mostly) recovered from Pinkeye. (In truth Amy and Willa got pink eye, I got an ear infection. Amy also got bronkitis and a sinus infection...) Our good friend Jenny and Joe had thier new baby Julia Lea yesterday, and we got to see her looking at us with her big dark eyes, her natty black hair, and her super fun cone head!
The United States surpasses 300 million people within these last weeks, and I thought we were one of the countries that was not growing that fast. It is weird hearing about all of the different views on growth. In some parts of the world there are governemtn incentives for growing families, in others, more than one of two children are against the law.
I noticed the Roe-V.-Wade issues is rising to the top of public mind again. One state is trying to make abortion illegal this political cycle, and both sides of the issue are pouring dollars into the fight over this volatile issue. In the last weeks of our local Michigan gubenatorial campaign, the issue has come out in the mudslinging trash talk of each side as well.
Why are we not examining the social issues that surround this? It seems like if the right to life folks and the planned parenthood folks put some of this "education campaign" money towards schools, womens issues, and taking care of unplanned or unwanted children, that the abortion option might seem less like an easy decision. I go back and forth on this issue, and feel like we can not move forward with the extreme polarisation that has happened to this issue.
I admire in some ways the entrenched ideas of the Catholic church, that birth control might be a sin. They definitely lay out what is right in thier minds and take a stand. As a sinner, I can't tell how my actions might be perceived by the higher power. But humans will have sex, this seems to be a pretty basic hardwired urge. I don't think that it helps the debate to put sex into one little box that it is for creation only. Tell me all you Catholics, that you don't also enjoy it when you are not specifically trying to get with child!
So if humans will have sex, does it not seem smarter to look at making sure that men and women are taking the proper care of their partners? I will go on record saying that I had sex while I was single, I enjoyed it, but I also was careful to pick partners that I would be willing to help raise a child with, if that was the case!
I am the luckiest man in the world, as I did find the one right woman to be with forever, and had an amazing child, which we will both raise to respect herself, and feel good about herself, so that she will hopefully make great choices in her partners as well. End of story, the rest is taking care of each other, making good choices, and supporting outcomes that are unexpected. Believe me, if my daughter conceived outside of marriage, I would still support her 100%, and not make her feel like she did something wrong in loving the person she chose to be with.
The time slips by, catching us all unawares. Since my last post I have seen several milestones. I turned 39 on the 15th of October, my daughter has broken two teeth and almost crawls, my wife and daughter and I have gotten sick and (mostly) recovered from Pinkeye. (In truth Amy and Willa got pink eye, I got an ear infection. Amy also got bronkitis and a sinus infection...) Our good friend Jenny and Joe had thier new baby Julia Lea yesterday, and we got to see her looking at us with her big dark eyes, her natty black hair, and her super fun cone head!
The United States surpasses 300 million people within these last weeks, and I thought we were one of the countries that was not growing that fast. It is weird hearing about all of the different views on growth. In some parts of the world there are governemtn incentives for growing families, in others, more than one of two children are against the law.
I noticed the Roe-V.-Wade issues is rising to the top of public mind again. One state is trying to make abortion illegal this political cycle, and both sides of the issue are pouring dollars into the fight over this volatile issue. In the last weeks of our local Michigan gubenatorial campaign, the issue has come out in the mudslinging trash talk of each side as well.
Why are we not examining the social issues that surround this? It seems like if the right to life folks and the planned parenthood folks put some of this "education campaign" money towards schools, womens issues, and taking care of unplanned or unwanted children, that the abortion option might seem less like an easy decision. I go back and forth on this issue, and feel like we can not move forward with the extreme polarisation that has happened to this issue.
I admire in some ways the entrenched ideas of the Catholic church, that birth control might be a sin. They definitely lay out what is right in thier minds and take a stand. As a sinner, I can't tell how my actions might be perceived by the higher power. But humans will have sex, this seems to be a pretty basic hardwired urge. I don't think that it helps the debate to put sex into one little box that it is for creation only. Tell me all you Catholics, that you don't also enjoy it when you are not specifically trying to get with child!
So if humans will have sex, does it not seem smarter to look at making sure that men and women are taking the proper care of their partners? I will go on record saying that I had sex while I was single, I enjoyed it, but I also was careful to pick partners that I would be willing to help raise a child with, if that was the case!
I am the luckiest man in the world, as I did find the one right woman to be with forever, and had an amazing child, which we will both raise to respect herself, and feel good about herself, so that she will hopefully make great choices in her partners as well. End of story, the rest is taking care of each other, making good choices, and supporting outcomes that are unexpected. Believe me, if my daughter conceived outside of marriage, I would still support her 100%, and not make her feel like she did something wrong in loving the person she chose to be with.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
An open letter to President Bush.
Dear President Bush,
I seek today to try and make sense of conflict between the American peoples. I, like many Americans an stuck somewhere between respect for the president and the leadership of our elected officials, and the truth that my heart tells me. Respectfully, I feel that we are wasting American lives and the reputation of Americans everywhere by the conduct and actions exhibited in the Iraq war. The little that I witness of world opinion tells me that we are being seen as increasingly religious fanatics in the face of Islam. I feel that our actions and conduct during this time of crisis, have not given the world a reason to admire us.
I think that the governments treatment of its' own citizenry has led to a further diminishing of our reputation on the world stage. In my mind the presidency, as with any other elected office, is bound to the will of the people. The office exists to make sure that every citizen is treated fairly, and to respond to the will of the people. It is pretty evident that you are acting counter to the opinion of the majority in this country.
I feel that many times government officials have access to a much larger pool of knowledge that the average citizen. This may lead to the government trying to protect its' people from themselves, with the reasoning that the person who knows the most needs to protect the rest. The problem with this line of thought is that now you are acting outside the dictates of the larger constituency. If the country needs to act, the government needs to be totally transparent, and bring the issues to light, so that all of the citizens can stand behind our leaders decisions.
Iraq is a mess, we all know this. The citizenry awaits you, we will stand behind sound decisions. Let us come up with a solution. Talking about the terrorists changing if we publicize our plans is a high school solution at best. It sounds rather like you have no plan at all. Hardly evokes a reputation for strong leadership. If we have a sound plan, the world will know that we are united, and we will see the respect that our country has earned as it leads the world in the quest for freedom.
We as a country need to get back to the unassailable high ground that we once claimed. This is not a moral high ground based upon the religious ideas of a few, rather this is the imperative that we show the world what is intrinsically right, and that we light the path for others to follow. The only way for us to do this is to commit to what we know is best for everyone, tell the world what we believe, live up to our own measure of rightness, and bring to light those that do harm in the name of personal power and gain.
Right now the world feels like you sir are one of those persons. You, more than anyone need to set the example. Yours is not a case where history will vindicate your decisions. Unfortunately due to the vast power of the modern communications, your message is skewed to make you look bad on the world stage today, and you need to begin to understand how your message comes across. I am sure you are a humble man with a great love for family, nation and God. But you look like a bully to the world, and you need to explain in a more effective way why our country is acting like a dictatorship.
Every small act that you do every day, every footstep that you make is seen on the national stage. Right now it looks like you are a rogue leader. Listen to the will of the people, show transparency in your decisions, plan for success instead of talking about it. Maybe even fire some of the jackasses that whisper ideas to you, that you know are not right. Stop doing secret things beyond the oversight of the people and the world community. Bring back the reputation that America is a leader because we are doing what is best for all of the people. It is harder to do this publicly, but we are America, we do not shirk away from hard problems. We have allowed you to lead, do so with grace and courage, if we are doing what is right, your legacy is assured.
Regards,
James Taylor
Dear President Bush,
I seek today to try and make sense of conflict between the American peoples. I, like many Americans an stuck somewhere between respect for the president and the leadership of our elected officials, and the truth that my heart tells me. Respectfully, I feel that we are wasting American lives and the reputation of Americans everywhere by the conduct and actions exhibited in the Iraq war. The little that I witness of world opinion tells me that we are being seen as increasingly religious fanatics in the face of Islam. I feel that our actions and conduct during this time of crisis, have not given the world a reason to admire us.
I think that the governments treatment of its' own citizenry has led to a further diminishing of our reputation on the world stage. In my mind the presidency, as with any other elected office, is bound to the will of the people. The office exists to make sure that every citizen is treated fairly, and to respond to the will of the people. It is pretty evident that you are acting counter to the opinion of the majority in this country.
I feel that many times government officials have access to a much larger pool of knowledge that the average citizen. This may lead to the government trying to protect its' people from themselves, with the reasoning that the person who knows the most needs to protect the rest. The problem with this line of thought is that now you are acting outside the dictates of the larger constituency. If the country needs to act, the government needs to be totally transparent, and bring the issues to light, so that all of the citizens can stand behind our leaders decisions.
Iraq is a mess, we all know this. The citizenry awaits you, we will stand behind sound decisions. Let us come up with a solution. Talking about the terrorists changing if we publicize our plans is a high school solution at best. It sounds rather like you have no plan at all. Hardly evokes a reputation for strong leadership. If we have a sound plan, the world will know that we are united, and we will see the respect that our country has earned as it leads the world in the quest for freedom.
We as a country need to get back to the unassailable high ground that we once claimed. This is not a moral high ground based upon the religious ideas of a few, rather this is the imperative that we show the world what is intrinsically right, and that we light the path for others to follow. The only way for us to do this is to commit to what we know is best for everyone, tell the world what we believe, live up to our own measure of rightness, and bring to light those that do harm in the name of personal power and gain.
Right now the world feels like you sir are one of those persons. You, more than anyone need to set the example. Yours is not a case where history will vindicate your decisions. Unfortunately due to the vast power of the modern communications, your message is skewed to make you look bad on the world stage today, and you need to begin to understand how your message comes across. I am sure you are a humble man with a great love for family, nation and God. But you look like a bully to the world, and you need to explain in a more effective way why our country is acting like a dictatorship.
Every small act that you do every day, every footstep that you make is seen on the national stage. Right now it looks like you are a rogue leader. Listen to the will of the people, show transparency in your decisions, plan for success instead of talking about it. Maybe even fire some of the jackasses that whisper ideas to you, that you know are not right. Stop doing secret things beyond the oversight of the people and the world community. Bring back the reputation that America is a leader because we are doing what is best for all of the people. It is harder to do this publicly, but we are America, we do not shirk away from hard problems. We have allowed you to lead, do so with grace and courage, if we are doing what is right, your legacy is assured.
Regards,
James Taylor
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