Last year, the Brand I work for began a project to “re-stack” the cubicles, offices and conference rooms at my office space. This is a very polite way to say they were re-sizing to make it possible for more people to inhabit the building.
The first section to be re-sized was the north end of my floor – where I work. The commencement of that re-model project temporarily moved me and my colleagues into the very close proximity of our customer service phone shop for almost half a year. Every day, we heard one side of the calls customer service representatives took from those customers with a problem of some kind.
I don’t want to give the impression that there are huge numbers of complaints. We do a pretty good job with our products and services. I know, I sound like a sports team “homer” but so what? I am a big fan of my brand, my colleagues and our products. Those products and services are great and they work. And when surveyed, a large proportion of our customers love us, or like us a lot (what we call, “top-two-box.)
But with financial products or services, excellence depends not only on what we do, but also on the execution of merchants and third-party vendors, the avoidance of crooks who perpetrate fraud, and even merchant product quality.
Our harried customer service representatives field calls about a variety of customer concerns, and it is very different to spend the bulk of your day dealing with the complaining portion of the consuming public than it is to listen in to an hour of customer calls on a weekly basis in order to make product feature decisions (which people of my profession routinely do.)
Being a captive audience to one side of those conversations gave me and my colleagues a new insight into patterns in the calls.
One example: for a period of time a very hard-working immigrant from an African nation, who spoke English with what sounded like an Eastern –European accent, sat just north of my office. It is one thing to read in the financial press that Americans are opposed to the off-shoring of customer service, and quite another to notice that every other caller, obnoxiously asked this conscientious young man where he lived. I could tell by the young man’s reaction that the caller did not for a minute believe him when he replied, “Salt Lake City, why do you ask?”
This frustrated young man from time to time became very combative, and all of us who heard him felt deeply sorry that he had to endure the abuse that was heaped on him day after day. His immigration story was heart-wrenching and heroic. His work ethic was first-rate. His grasp of English was better by far than say, my grasp of Spanish when I’m visiting Mexico. Honestly, I think this kid is smarter than me.
Another example: while at lunch with a former colleague I overheard another patron verbally abusing a waitress over something related to the food. Not her fault really – she handles the service, but remember, the kitchen doesn’t face the public, they face only management and waiters and waitresses. As the waitress apologetically walked away to fix the problem, and after already causing her more trouble than the bulk of us, the patron commented about the size – or rather lack of size of her future tip.
It is my general observation that most people are bullies to the weak and helpless who don’t seem to matter. If you aren’t weak or helpless, you are probably a bully from time to time too. And there are few people with less power than a customer service representative.
If there seems to be no love in most customer service, perhaps it is less about training on the part of the company, or desire on the part of the employee, and more about the last ten customers who verbally abused them. If there is one thing I have learned well it is that in order to change the dynamics of a relationship, you need only change one side of the equation.
If you want better service, you need to be more like my Dad. He is polite and patient with everyone, most especially the weak and helpless. When he knows it, he uses their name. He thanks them. He is genuine and respectful. He uses the words “please” and “thank you.” He compliments them. He is consistent. Listening to him, you would think he was dealing with the president of the company. And it has been my life-long observation that he gets better service than most people I know, especially where he is well known.
Another observation: Companies are rewarding customers for obnoxious behavior. The unhappy customer that doesn’t push and abuse, demand and cajole, will get no compensational perk.
The jerk, on the other hand – well now, company polices and partially empowered employees and managers will credit their account, send them movie tickets or some other such thing, and thank them profusely for their abuse, bow and scrape. We’ve set up our front-line employees and we’ve ensured that the abuse will continue to escalate.
There are ways to overcome these issues, but the current policies of most customer service organizations, policies devised by re-engineering project managers and approved by senior managers, lead to unintended consequences and escalation remains hidden to those “strategists.”
Those re-engineering project managers are people who jump from one operation to another, think they understand all the pertinent data in minutes, but miss the nuances. They are really good with process maps, project plans and “managing upward.” We’ve left the devising of our most important relationships to people with a cursory understanding of the dynamics or consequences of these key relationships.
These re-engineering project managers think they are more clever than the experts. The experts are those people who do this each and every day. And on that rare occasion when the re-engineering project manager does ask and listen to the experts, they routinely ignore what they say.
Next time you decide some pierced, tattooed, baggy-panted, and very bored or unhappy looking minimum wage service jockey needs a bit of straightening out, take a moment to think about who actually determined the policies, designed the product, or determined the process for that service. Chances are that guy has an MBA, owns the house next door and makes a lot more than minimum wage.
Oh, and he can’t figure out why he can’t find good help these days.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The Root of Civility
Former Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo has said that, "Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom." Now that, is a brilliant expression!
At least one writer (Salman Rushdie) has expressed the belief that "without freedom to offend," freedom of expression "ceases to exist."
Despite the brilliance of Rushdie, I respectfully disagree with him. And in a time when communication appears to have become so much more careless, offensive, and frankly just plain rude, we need, as a society to figure out how to protect this basic and fundamental right without destroying the slender and fragile threads of civility that hold our society together.
Earlier this week and in another forum, I wrote: "Don't you wish there were a way to indicate non-verbal ques in our emails? How often I would have loved to have had a symbol that indicated my tongue in my cheek, but feel it is somehow not quite manly to use those silly little "emoticoms" with their insipid - more leering than smiley faces!
I'm convinced that the biggest problem with the electronic forms of communication and discussion is that the non-verbal and face-to-face components have been removed but we still expect that they are present. Since our brains are designed to make rapid value judgments, we still make the assumptions we would if we were in a face-to-face discussion but without what communication experts say is as much as 90% of the needed 'data.'
It is a huge problem getting bigger as more and more interpersonal communication is short and written - and getting shorter and more written (texting is showing this trend to be fairly permanent and even more short-handed!)
Seth Godin, a tremendously brilliant marketing writer and consultant, believes that anonymity is killing the civility of our society. I think that it's corollary, "faceless-ness," is a huge component of this destruction. The bottom line though, is that communication is risky even with, or perhaps especially with, the people we love most."
These twin facets, anonymity and faceless-ness, indicate that the real problem with rude or offensive communication or expression is not the inherent freedom, but instead the inherent lack of respect for those with whom we are communicating. If we do not know our audience then we do not even understand those things which might offend. If we cannot see that audience, we often have no idea how real - and bright, they may be.
Ah, you may say, "Lon, you idiot, if your premise is right and we know our audience and we know that something we will say will offend them, then curtailing that communication is to limit our freedom of expression. Rushdie was right!" I did not say we should curtail our expression. But respect for those with whom we communication requires us to work at it.
The root of civility is not conformity or a lack of freedom.
The root of civility is respect.
If we have a tough message to deliver, or a variant point of view, and we need to convince a person we love and respect that this point of view is worth embracing - or at least understanding, we work very hard at crafting the right message, and delivering it persuasively. This is not limiting our freedom of expression - it is merely taking care in its delivery.
One of the mistakes I think that some "constitutionalists" make is believing that expression is an "offensive" word printed boldly and openly on an outer garment. Those of us who don't have to wrestle with theoretic constitutional positions know what the judges cannot admit to in public: those who do such want to shock and offend. They weren't looking so much for expression as for shock value. They want attention - even negative attention.
Expression is the verbalization of one's point of view, thoughts, or values. And you can offend without having a point of view, thought or value.
But if we follow Rushdie to the end of his expression, then perfect freedom is a world in which everyone says whatever comes to their mind at any time no matter who may be shocked, offended or even harmed.
Yelling "FIRE" when there is none, in a crowded theater is the usual example. When, in the rush to get out of the theater, one or more are injured or killed, the expression or thought has just led to damage.
I suspect you have witnessed a political debate where the carefully practiced civility of the candidates breaks down pretty quickly. At the root of that breakdown is contempt for the ideas and opinions of the other candidate or candidates, and the belief that everyone with any intelligence agrees with them. That is a simple lack of respect, my friends.
The opinions of another candidate or citizen may not be worth the effort, but the right to hold them is the same for one candidate - or citizen as for the other.
How well I remember my father, a career military officer, saying he may not agree with my opinion, but would fight to the death for my right to hold it. I don't think we hear those kinds of expressions any more. They seem too quaint. And that is just too bad, because "lay down their life" is exactly what too many have done so that we can have the freedom of expression.
So I am trying to add the element of respect to my freedom of expression. When I write an email, a paper (or even this blog), or when I speak with anyone else I'm picturing and respecting the self-same rights and intelligence of my audience. (You all are quite bright and beautiful, aren't you!)
When I get an email, or read a post, or hear someone speak and something expressed is obnoxious and offends me, I'm trying to remember that they obviously forgot, or didn't know, that a brilliant, cultured, well-read, hard-working and handsome fellow like me was going to read or hear their remarks. I'm going to try to be self-satisfied enough to ignore the offense.
Why? Well, I'd like to see civility restored in my community, and since I am the only member of my community I can possibly change, I'm just working on me. If you'd like to join me in my little quest, you are free to do so.
At least one writer (Salman Rushdie) has expressed the belief that "without freedom to offend," freedom of expression "ceases to exist."
Despite the brilliance of Rushdie, I respectfully disagree with him. And in a time when communication appears to have become so much more careless, offensive, and frankly just plain rude, we need, as a society to figure out how to protect this basic and fundamental right without destroying the slender and fragile threads of civility that hold our society together.
Earlier this week and in another forum, I wrote: "Don't you wish there were a way to indicate non-verbal ques in our emails? How often I would have loved to have had a symbol that indicated my tongue in my cheek, but feel it is somehow not quite manly to use those silly little "emoticoms" with their insipid - more leering than smiley faces!
I'm convinced that the biggest problem with the electronic forms of communication and discussion is that the non-verbal and face-to-face components have been removed but we still expect that they are present. Since our brains are designed to make rapid value judgments, we still make the assumptions we would if we were in a face-to-face discussion but without what communication experts say is as much as 90% of the needed 'data.'
It is a huge problem getting bigger as more and more interpersonal communication is short and written - and getting shorter and more written (texting is showing this trend to be fairly permanent and even more short-handed!)
Seth Godin, a tremendously brilliant marketing writer and consultant, believes that anonymity is killing the civility of our society. I think that it's corollary, "faceless-ness," is a huge component of this destruction. The bottom line though, is that communication is risky even with, or perhaps especially with, the people we love most."
These twin facets, anonymity and faceless-ness, indicate that the real problem with rude or offensive communication or expression is not the inherent freedom, but instead the inherent lack of respect for those with whom we are communicating. If we do not know our audience then we do not even understand those things which might offend. If we cannot see that audience, we often have no idea how real - and bright, they may be.
Ah, you may say, "Lon, you idiot, if your premise is right and we know our audience and we know that something we will say will offend them, then curtailing that communication is to limit our freedom of expression. Rushdie was right!" I did not say we should curtail our expression. But respect for those with whom we communication requires us to work at it.
The root of civility is not conformity or a lack of freedom.
The root of civility is respect.
If we have a tough message to deliver, or a variant point of view, and we need to convince a person we love and respect that this point of view is worth embracing - or at least understanding, we work very hard at crafting the right message, and delivering it persuasively. This is not limiting our freedom of expression - it is merely taking care in its delivery.
One of the mistakes I think that some "constitutionalists" make is believing that expression is an "offensive" word printed boldly and openly on an outer garment. Those of us who don't have to wrestle with theoretic constitutional positions know what the judges cannot admit to in public: those who do such want to shock and offend. They weren't looking so much for expression as for shock value. They want attention - even negative attention.
Expression is the verbalization of one's point of view, thoughts, or values. And you can offend without having a point of view, thought or value.
But if we follow Rushdie to the end of his expression, then perfect freedom is a world in which everyone says whatever comes to their mind at any time no matter who may be shocked, offended or even harmed.
Yelling "FIRE" when there is none, in a crowded theater is the usual example. When, in the rush to get out of the theater, one or more are injured or killed, the expression or thought has just led to damage.
I suspect you have witnessed a political debate where the carefully practiced civility of the candidates breaks down pretty quickly. At the root of that breakdown is contempt for the ideas and opinions of the other candidate or candidates, and the belief that everyone with any intelligence agrees with them. That is a simple lack of respect, my friends.
The opinions of another candidate or citizen may not be worth the effort, but the right to hold them is the same for one candidate - or citizen as for the other.
How well I remember my father, a career military officer, saying he may not agree with my opinion, but would fight to the death for my right to hold it. I don't think we hear those kinds of expressions any more. They seem too quaint. And that is just too bad, because "lay down their life" is exactly what too many have done so that we can have the freedom of expression.
So I am trying to add the element of respect to my freedom of expression. When I write an email, a paper (or even this blog), or when I speak with anyone else I'm picturing and respecting the self-same rights and intelligence of my audience. (You all are quite bright and beautiful, aren't you!)
When I get an email, or read a post, or hear someone speak and something expressed is obnoxious and offends me, I'm trying to remember that they obviously forgot, or didn't know, that a brilliant, cultured, well-read, hard-working and handsome fellow like me was going to read or hear their remarks. I'm going to try to be self-satisfied enough to ignore the offense.
Why? Well, I'd like to see civility restored in my community, and since I am the only member of my community I can possibly change, I'm just working on me. If you'd like to join me in my little quest, you are free to do so.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Full of Gratitude
I woke this morning with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. There were several reasons, but let me just name a few.
My son, in his late twenties, who recently tried to end it all for the second time in as many weeks appears to have finally hit rock bottom and last night agreed not to resist the efforts of professionals, family and friends to help him detox and try to turn things around.
As his Mother and I watched him prepare for transport to an in-patient facility, we felt true hope for the first time in 14-years. Yes, he may break our hearts once again by choosing not to make the effort. It may take many more years for him to become the productive, happy, responsible and law-abiding citizen we want him to be. But today, I am grateful for all the love, support, prayers and expressions of support we have received through this ordeal.
I’m especially grateful to my friend and Brother, Kim – an expert in this kind of thing, who took my calls, counseled with me, and got me through it all. Once again, my friend, I owe you.
I’m not sure we always give those who simply get up in the morning, go to work, act responsibly, obey the law, help their neighbors, take care of their kids, and make a small but significant and positive contribution to our society the credit they deserve. When you see up close and personal the pain, suffering and toll those who don’t do those seemingly simple things cause, you begin to see how truly special those civil people are. Today, I am grateful for all my neighbors in this community who do all those "small" things.
I was also so grateful this morning to wake and discover that Congressman Chris Cannon will be coming home soon. It is not so much because I don’t like Congressman Cannon and his politics (I don’t), or even because I think Jason Chaffetz represents my view-point any better (he doesn’t.) It is really more because I believe that Cincinnatus needs to return home to the farm after his job is done in order to make Washington DC operate better. (If you don't know who Cincinatius is, find and read the story of this man's life. It is worth the effort.)
And those who cannot do the job in one or two terms ought to step aside voluntarily while those who think they are the only ones – or one of the few who can do the job, well, they need to get a reality check.
I am generally against term limits because I think the voters ought to always have the final say, but our current system has shown that the voter is a poor regulator of incumbent longevity, and perhaps my theoretical approach has been proven false by the very practical results.
It is ironic that the Utah Senator (Hatch) who unseated his incumbent opponent more than two decades ago largely because the incumbent had been in DC too long to be in touch with his constituents has now outlasted that former incumbent. It is also paradoxical that he was seen in political ads for Cannon arrogantly instructing us all that we just don’t understand how Washington works, and that you have to be a long-term incumbent in order to get things done.
If all our representatives came home after one or two terms, the system would have to change because one of its legs had been kicked out from under it.
Of course, it is all our fault – Really! We have the kind of government we deserve. When we have less people “show up for a primary election than would show up for a poorly attended BYU Football game”(Doug Wright, The Doug Wright Show, KSL, June, 25, 2008) we have no one to blame but ourselves.
On the other hand, if you are not a member of the dominant ruling party (like me), there was nothing to vote for or against in the primary. So my gratitude is for all those who decided to bring him home, and also for all those who thought he ought to stay one more term but were unable or unwilling to get to the polls and vote. I think this time the apathetic (or perhaps just pathetic) party-line non-voters did us a great service.
Thank you all.
My son, in his late twenties, who recently tried to end it all for the second time in as many weeks appears to have finally hit rock bottom and last night agreed not to resist the efforts of professionals, family and friends to help him detox and try to turn things around.
As his Mother and I watched him prepare for transport to an in-patient facility, we felt true hope for the first time in 14-years. Yes, he may break our hearts once again by choosing not to make the effort. It may take many more years for him to become the productive, happy, responsible and law-abiding citizen we want him to be. But today, I am grateful for all the love, support, prayers and expressions of support we have received through this ordeal.
I’m especially grateful to my friend and Brother, Kim – an expert in this kind of thing, who took my calls, counseled with me, and got me through it all. Once again, my friend, I owe you.
I’m not sure we always give those who simply get up in the morning, go to work, act responsibly, obey the law, help their neighbors, take care of their kids, and make a small but significant and positive contribution to our society the credit they deserve. When you see up close and personal the pain, suffering and toll those who don’t do those seemingly simple things cause, you begin to see how truly special those civil people are. Today, I am grateful for all my neighbors in this community who do all those "small" things.
I was also so grateful this morning to wake and discover that Congressman Chris Cannon will be coming home soon. It is not so much because I don’t like Congressman Cannon and his politics (I don’t), or even because I think Jason Chaffetz represents my view-point any better (he doesn’t.) It is really more because I believe that Cincinnatus needs to return home to the farm after his job is done in order to make Washington DC operate better. (If you don't know who Cincinatius is, find and read the story of this man's life. It is worth the effort.)
And those who cannot do the job in one or two terms ought to step aside voluntarily while those who think they are the only ones – or one of the few who can do the job, well, they need to get a reality check.
I am generally against term limits because I think the voters ought to always have the final say, but our current system has shown that the voter is a poor regulator of incumbent longevity, and perhaps my theoretical approach has been proven false by the very practical results.
It is ironic that the Utah Senator (Hatch) who unseated his incumbent opponent more than two decades ago largely because the incumbent had been in DC too long to be in touch with his constituents has now outlasted that former incumbent. It is also paradoxical that he was seen in political ads for Cannon arrogantly instructing us all that we just don’t understand how Washington works, and that you have to be a long-term incumbent in order to get things done.
If all our representatives came home after one or two terms, the system would have to change because one of its legs had been kicked out from under it.
Of course, it is all our fault – Really! We have the kind of government we deserve. When we have less people “show up for a primary election than would show up for a poorly attended BYU Football game”(Doug Wright, The Doug Wright Show, KSL, June, 25, 2008) we have no one to blame but ourselves.
On the other hand, if you are not a member of the dominant ruling party (like me), there was nothing to vote for or against in the primary. So my gratitude is for all those who decided to bring him home, and also for all those who thought he ought to stay one more term but were unable or unwilling to get to the polls and vote. I think this time the apathetic (or perhaps just pathetic) party-line non-voters did us a great service.
Thank you all.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Feast of Saint John
Last Friday Evening, approximately fifty Utah Masons gathered in the Banquet Hall of the Salt Lake Masonic Temple to celebrate the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, one of two days venerated by Masons (the other being also named the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist – December 27th.) The celebration included food, toasts, and an exceptional special guest speaker.
You may wonder why Masons, who welcome to their doors honorable men of various classes and creeds, celebrate these two feast days. Phillip G. Elam, past Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Missouri has written that, "No satisfactory explanation has yet been advanced to explain why operative Masons adopted these two particular Christian saints, when, for example, St. Thomas, the patron of architecture and building, was already in wide use … It was a common custom in the Middle Ages for craftsmen to place themselves under the protection of some saint of the church. All the London trades appear to have ranged themselves under the banner of some saint and if possible they chose one who bore fancied relation to their trades … Eleven or more medieval trade guilds chose John the Baptist as their Patron Saint. Even after exhaustive research by some of the best Masonic scholars, no one can say with any certainty why Freemasons adopted the two Saints John, or why they continue to celebrate feast days when they once held a far different significance. However, the appropriateness of the two Johns is obvious in our system of Great Moral Teachings, if we consider the spiritual suggestion of their lives.” (http://www.geocities.com/athens/oracle/1190/stjohnb.html)
My Mother Lodge, Wasatch No. 1, hosted the Feast. The food was provided for us by our able stewards and was the more than edible fare from Johnny Carino's Italian Kitchen. The Feast, “Table Lodge,” or “Festive Board” is a fairly formal event (black tie was optional) and there were a fair number of tuxedo’s. Not one member of the Utah Masonic Family in attendance was clothed in less than a dark suit and tie. The Feast came under the direction of Jason Mitchell, the Worshipful Master of Wasatch Lodge No 1.
For those of you who know little of Masons, the Worshipful Master is in effect the President of the Lodge, and is elected in Wasatch for a term of one-year by the Master Masons of the Lodge. He is assisted in his duties by a senior and junior Warden, the equivalent of 1st and 2nd Vice Presidents. There are also other officers including the Secretary, Treasurer, Deacons, Stewards, Trustees, the Chaplain, the Marshall and the Tyler. The term “Worshipful” does not make our Lodge Master a deity, as some have supposed, but is reminiscent of English Guilds and has a meaning more in keeping with the word “Honorable.”
Our Secretary, Jason Varner, opened the Feast and set us to work on the food after a prayer (which I was honored to offer.) After toasts, under the direction of John Liley, Jason then introduced our special guest and speaker, Robert G. Davis of Guthrie, Oklahoma. Before I tell you a little about Brother Davis and his remarks, let me explain that Masonic toasting is a traditional experience with as much decorum and convention as anything else we do.
Toasting is done with “Cannons” (or heavy tumblers very often adorned with Masonic symbols) and the cannons may be "charged" with beer, wine, water, or as in my case, a soft-drink (Coca-Cola being my own personal vice.) We were “upstanding” for a series of toasts prior to the speaker and again after Bob Davis completed his remarks. At the final toast the Worshipful Master led us in a formal toast called the “Tyler’s Toast” – which I can only best describe to you as a form of toast and prayer all rolled into one.
Robert G. Davis is an interested, well-traveled, and well-educated man, who has been a Mason for the majority of his adult life, has attained most if not all of the Masonic Honors available, and has studied and written extensively on the concept of manhood. He delivered a paper he has written on this subject which will be published later this year in a prestigious Masonic Research publication (Proceedings of Quartor Coronati Lodge No 2076.) His remarks were well received and he reminded us of a number of important Masonic concepts, first among them that Masonry is about the transformation of men from “guys” into true men of honor and virtue, and that this transformation in one, few or many ultimately raises the status of our much maligned gender.
Bob Davis is one of those authors I read with relish – no, no, no! … that phrase does not put it into proper perspective. His viewpoint is one I have pondered and shared since I first read his paper, “Understanding Manhood in America: The Elusive Quest for the Ideal in Masculinity,” originally published in 2002 (in the Scottish Rite publication, Heredom.) From the moment I heard that our Master had invited Bob to speak to us I looked forward to this night like a kid on Christmas Eve. I tried to take notes of his remarks, but found that I could capture little of his words in my “little black book” as each sentence of his paper was filled with though-provoking theories. After a while, I sat the book down and just tried to absorb his words and notions.
Bob noted that men need models, that we need close emotional relationships with other men, that we need to be mentored into true manhood and that we have an internal need to mentor other men. He said that “our conversations with other men allow us to make meaningful comparisons” when we face the exigent circumstances of life. He reminded us that women cannot teach us what it is to be a man and that only men can model true manhood for other men. And he observed, “being a guy is embedded in our genes, if you’ll pardon the pun,” right before indicating that it is this “guy” in us that we need to keep in check in order to achieve true manhood.
There was much more, "Masonically speaking," to his comments, but most of you won’t care about my notes on the need for “symbolic interaction” and “the sacred space of the lodge,” but be assured that these are honorable notions and not simply gathering to perform ritual or simply “be guys.”
Bob’s comments reminded me of an excerpt that I read last week. Arthur Laffer speaking last month to graduates of Mercer University said: “Pursuing your dream of prospering will benefit everyone … When I graduated from Yale University, we had a serious commencement speaker not like the one you are stuck with today. The commencement speaker was President John F. Kennedy. And the point I am making today is the same point he made all those years ago. He said, ‘No American is ever made better by pulling a fellow American down, and all of us are made better off whenever any one of us is made better off.’ He concluded by using the analogy that ‘a rising tide raises all boats.’ Never forget or be ashamed of the fact that pursuing your own self interest furthers everyone’s interest. Without you, the poor would be poorer.” (WSJ, “Notable and Quotable,” 19 June 2008)
Bob similarly noted that when one guy becomes a man, a true man of honor and virtue, he confers and raises the status of all men, and I’ll note here that there was never a time in history when the status of men needed to be raised any more than now. But it is not a matter of spin. Men need to become the best men they can become and that alone will reflect appropriate status and honor upon our gender.
It was a wonderful evening. It was my own first “Festive Board.” I’d not participated in formal toasting since my “Dining Out” days in the Air Force, and that is a ritual men seem to enjoy in both forums. It is always a pleasure to gather with my Fraternal Brothers, men I would run across the Sahara to assist, and who are similarly there for me. They are good men, men of honor and virtue. And they are good friends. I’ve never in my life experienced the kind of brotherhood that I find in Masonry.
Every interaction with my brothers, from our exemplary Utah Grand Master, my mentors and Lodge officers, to our most recently “obligated” Entered Apprentice, is a pleasure I cherish. I need the influence of my beloved women to soften and lift my life, but I also need the example and conversation of upright men, including my own respectable and principled Father, and the symbolic interaction Bob spoke about to make me the man I can become.
Note: You may read more of Bob’s papers at http//robertgdavis.blogspot.com (or by following the link in the left hand corner of this blog. His paper, “Manhood in America,” is available at: http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/manhood_america.html)
You may wonder why Masons, who welcome to their doors honorable men of various classes and creeds, celebrate these two feast days. Phillip G. Elam, past Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Missouri has written that, "No satisfactory explanation has yet been advanced to explain why operative Masons adopted these two particular Christian saints, when, for example, St. Thomas, the patron of architecture and building, was already in wide use … It was a common custom in the Middle Ages for craftsmen to place themselves under the protection of some saint of the church. All the London trades appear to have ranged themselves under the banner of some saint and if possible they chose one who bore fancied relation to their trades … Eleven or more medieval trade guilds chose John the Baptist as their Patron Saint. Even after exhaustive research by some of the best Masonic scholars, no one can say with any certainty why Freemasons adopted the two Saints John, or why they continue to celebrate feast days when they once held a far different significance. However, the appropriateness of the two Johns is obvious in our system of Great Moral Teachings, if we consider the spiritual suggestion of their lives.” (http://www.geocities.com/athens/oracle/1190/stjohnb.html)
My Mother Lodge, Wasatch No. 1, hosted the Feast. The food was provided for us by our able stewards and was the more than edible fare from Johnny Carino's Italian Kitchen. The Feast, “Table Lodge,” or “Festive Board” is a fairly formal event (black tie was optional) and there were a fair number of tuxedo’s. Not one member of the Utah Masonic Family in attendance was clothed in less than a dark suit and tie. The Feast came under the direction of Jason Mitchell, the Worshipful Master of Wasatch Lodge No 1.
For those of you who know little of Masons, the Worshipful Master is in effect the President of the Lodge, and is elected in Wasatch for a term of one-year by the Master Masons of the Lodge. He is assisted in his duties by a senior and junior Warden, the equivalent of 1st and 2nd Vice Presidents. There are also other officers including the Secretary, Treasurer, Deacons, Stewards, Trustees, the Chaplain, the Marshall and the Tyler. The term “Worshipful” does not make our Lodge Master a deity, as some have supposed, but is reminiscent of English Guilds and has a meaning more in keeping with the word “Honorable.”
Our Secretary, Jason Varner, opened the Feast and set us to work on the food after a prayer (which I was honored to offer.) After toasts, under the direction of John Liley, Jason then introduced our special guest and speaker, Robert G. Davis of Guthrie, Oklahoma. Before I tell you a little about Brother Davis and his remarks, let me explain that Masonic toasting is a traditional experience with as much decorum and convention as anything else we do.
Toasting is done with “Cannons” (or heavy tumblers very often adorned with Masonic symbols) and the cannons may be "charged" with beer, wine, water, or as in my case, a soft-drink (Coca-Cola being my own personal vice.) We were “upstanding” for a series of toasts prior to the speaker and again after Bob Davis completed his remarks. At the final toast the Worshipful Master led us in a formal toast called the “Tyler’s Toast” – which I can only best describe to you as a form of toast and prayer all rolled into one.
Robert G. Davis is an interested, well-traveled, and well-educated man, who has been a Mason for the majority of his adult life, has attained most if not all of the Masonic Honors available, and has studied and written extensively on the concept of manhood. He delivered a paper he has written on this subject which will be published later this year in a prestigious Masonic Research publication (Proceedings of Quartor Coronati Lodge No 2076.) His remarks were well received and he reminded us of a number of important Masonic concepts, first among them that Masonry is about the transformation of men from “guys” into true men of honor and virtue, and that this transformation in one, few or many ultimately raises the status of our much maligned gender.
Bob Davis is one of those authors I read with relish – no, no, no! … that phrase does not put it into proper perspective. His viewpoint is one I have pondered and shared since I first read his paper, “Understanding Manhood in America: The Elusive Quest for the Ideal in Masculinity,” originally published in 2002 (in the Scottish Rite publication, Heredom.) From the moment I heard that our Master had invited Bob to speak to us I looked forward to this night like a kid on Christmas Eve. I tried to take notes of his remarks, but found that I could capture little of his words in my “little black book” as each sentence of his paper was filled with though-provoking theories. After a while, I sat the book down and just tried to absorb his words and notions.
Bob noted that men need models, that we need close emotional relationships with other men, that we need to be mentored into true manhood and that we have an internal need to mentor other men. He said that “our conversations with other men allow us to make meaningful comparisons” when we face the exigent circumstances of life. He reminded us that women cannot teach us what it is to be a man and that only men can model true manhood for other men. And he observed, “being a guy is embedded in our genes, if you’ll pardon the pun,” right before indicating that it is this “guy” in us that we need to keep in check in order to achieve true manhood.
There was much more, "Masonically speaking," to his comments, but most of you won’t care about my notes on the need for “symbolic interaction” and “the sacred space of the lodge,” but be assured that these are honorable notions and not simply gathering to perform ritual or simply “be guys.”
Bob’s comments reminded me of an excerpt that I read last week. Arthur Laffer speaking last month to graduates of Mercer University said: “Pursuing your dream of prospering will benefit everyone … When I graduated from Yale University, we had a serious commencement speaker not like the one you are stuck with today. The commencement speaker was President John F. Kennedy. And the point I am making today is the same point he made all those years ago. He said, ‘No American is ever made better by pulling a fellow American down, and all of us are made better off whenever any one of us is made better off.’ He concluded by using the analogy that ‘a rising tide raises all boats.’ Never forget or be ashamed of the fact that pursuing your own self interest furthers everyone’s interest. Without you, the poor would be poorer.” (WSJ, “Notable and Quotable,” 19 June 2008)
Bob similarly noted that when one guy becomes a man, a true man of honor and virtue, he confers and raises the status of all men, and I’ll note here that there was never a time in history when the status of men needed to be raised any more than now. But it is not a matter of spin. Men need to become the best men they can become and that alone will reflect appropriate status and honor upon our gender.
It was a wonderful evening. It was my own first “Festive Board.” I’d not participated in formal toasting since my “Dining Out” days in the Air Force, and that is a ritual men seem to enjoy in both forums. It is always a pleasure to gather with my Fraternal Brothers, men I would run across the Sahara to assist, and who are similarly there for me. They are good men, men of honor and virtue. And they are good friends. I’ve never in my life experienced the kind of brotherhood that I find in Masonry.
Every interaction with my brothers, from our exemplary Utah Grand Master, my mentors and Lodge officers, to our most recently “obligated” Entered Apprentice, is a pleasure I cherish. I need the influence of my beloved women to soften and lift my life, but I also need the example and conversation of upright men, including my own respectable and principled Father, and the symbolic interaction Bob spoke about to make me the man I can become.
Note: You may read more of Bob’s papers at http//robertgdavis.blogspot.com (or by following the link in the left hand corner of this blog. His paper, “Manhood in America,” is available at: http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/manhood_america.html)
Friday, June 20, 2008
Electronic Books
Y'all know of my deep love of books. Today, I wish to address a few thoughts on new reading technology I am watching closely.
Seth Godin has written a wonderful blog about the new Kindle available though Amazon (who appear to be running for their life these days just like Borders.) Frankly, I could have stopped with “Seth Godin has written a wonderful blog” as his blog is worth the effort each and every day. (By-the-way, his thoughts Wednesday about "Little Miss Matched" were exceptional.) You can read this blog here: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/06/random-thoughts.html
Seth’s comments on the Kindle are, as always, very constructive. He hit home for me with a number of his insights because I read books from my Palm and have done for several years and they ring true. In fact, as I find my phone beginning to do almost all the things my Palm used to do, I still keep my out-dated Palm for the library of books I have amassed.
But I’ve been a bit ambivalent on the replacement of books with electronic equivalents because I like the feel of a book in my hand – especially the fine leather classics I love so much. I've done it, but I am not ready to give up my library. It is convenient. I can take my Palm out of my pocket or briefcase anywhere when I'm stuck (or completely bored) and read something worthwhile.
The screen of my Palm, back-lit as it is, allows me to read much smaller print than I can read on a paper page without excellent lighting and/or my reading glasses. However, the size also means that it is not all that comfortable or convenient to hold. It's plastic not leather. And when we talk about lighting, please note that I cannot read my Palm screen outdoors very well, and this precludes my reading on the beach, even though I have waterproof protection for my Palm that would allow me to dive with it.
You also miss all the cool graphics on the cover when you read from a Palm. And let's face it, so many people purchase a book because of it's cover graphics. As reasoned as I would like to think I am when I shop, I do it too. I read the inside cover, page through and read here and there to determine I will enjoy not only the story line or topic but also the factual content and the writing style of the author. But most often when I am in a bookstore, I have found two books I'd like and should only purchase one, (or three and should only buy two) it is often the cover that pushes me over the edge. (How very humanly emotional of me! But then, that is why I think cover art is there - to make us pick it up and "break ties.")
My first explorations into the Kindle led me to believe that they are headed in the right direction. Let me tell you why.
Several weeks ago, I had dinner with my boss and a colleague from New York at Spencer’s in the Salt Lake Hilton. The steaks were excellent. WOW! were they expensive though! I’d forgotten since I last visited there several years ago that you need to have a credit rating in excess of 700 to eat there. Since my Ad days at the City Weekly, I’ve heard people say that Spencer’s was over-rated. I disagree. It just isn’t a good value. When you can get a steak at Ruby River of similar quality and flavor for $10 - $15 less, well, the better value is to be had there. My boss was paying so I am not really complaining, but when I pay we will go elsewhere.
I tell you this only as an aside. The real point is that while we were dining, my colleague mentioned that she had recently moved from Houston to New York and had to throw or give away tons of stuff - including most of her library, in order to fit in their new housing. In Manhattan, 800 square feet is pretty expensive and you’ve got to have more than just a low six-figure income to purchase much more. A few of my New York colleagues pay as much each month to house a car as I pay for my 4,000 square foot Rambler in South Jordan, Utah sitting on slightly more than a third of an acre.
I remember thinking, at that moment, if I ever moved to New York I would need something like a Kindle because my books are over-flowing my current space. No, over-flowing isn't right - they are bursting my downstairs office at the very seams! Seth sums up why I continue to wait to make the whole-hearted switch to electronic reading. The Kindle is fairly new technology. It is priced poorly right now. It is not yet customer or author friendly. As Seth put it, "My bet is that this is just round one. Round five could be/should be powerful indeed."
Someone will figure it all out, and soon the books loaded on them will be priced more for readers and authors. We'll be able to see the cool cover art when we buy the books. (You can already read the dust cover summary and book excerpts on-line, but you just can't see the art - it's effectiveness as a "tie-breaker" is killed by those little thumbnails.)
When they have all that handled and there are several competitors, I’ll be looking to move from fine leather in my hand to plastic? No, why not fine leather around my electronic reader? And you product geniuses, don’t forget I love to read at the beach as well as in the bed or office. Ensure it feels good in my hand, is well-priced, and I can read at home without a light and on the beach without glare and you have a customer.
But until then, The Illiad just reads better in leather.
Seth Godin has written a wonderful blog about the new Kindle available though Amazon (who appear to be running for their life these days just like Borders.) Frankly, I could have stopped with “Seth Godin has written a wonderful blog” as his blog is worth the effort each and every day. (By-the-way, his thoughts Wednesday about "Little Miss Matched" were exceptional.) You can read this blog here: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/06/random-thoughts.html
Seth’s comments on the Kindle are, as always, very constructive. He hit home for me with a number of his insights because I read books from my Palm and have done for several years and they ring true. In fact, as I find my phone beginning to do almost all the things my Palm used to do, I still keep my out-dated Palm for the library of books I have amassed.
But I’ve been a bit ambivalent on the replacement of books with electronic equivalents because I like the feel of a book in my hand – especially the fine leather classics I love so much. I've done it, but I am not ready to give up my library. It is convenient. I can take my Palm out of my pocket or briefcase anywhere when I'm stuck (or completely bored) and read something worthwhile.
The screen of my Palm, back-lit as it is, allows me to read much smaller print than I can read on a paper page without excellent lighting and/or my reading glasses. However, the size also means that it is not all that comfortable or convenient to hold. It's plastic not leather. And when we talk about lighting, please note that I cannot read my Palm screen outdoors very well, and this precludes my reading on the beach, even though I have waterproof protection for my Palm that would allow me to dive with it.
You also miss all the cool graphics on the cover when you read from a Palm. And let's face it, so many people purchase a book because of it's cover graphics. As reasoned as I would like to think I am when I shop, I do it too. I read the inside cover, page through and read here and there to determine I will enjoy not only the story line or topic but also the factual content and the writing style of the author. But most often when I am in a bookstore, I have found two books I'd like and should only purchase one, (or three and should only buy two) it is often the cover that pushes me over the edge. (How very humanly emotional of me! But then, that is why I think cover art is there - to make us pick it up and "break ties.")
My first explorations into the Kindle led me to believe that they are headed in the right direction. Let me tell you why.
Several weeks ago, I had dinner with my boss and a colleague from New York at Spencer’s in the Salt Lake Hilton. The steaks were excellent. WOW! were they expensive though! I’d forgotten since I last visited there several years ago that you need to have a credit rating in excess of 700 to eat there. Since my Ad days at the City Weekly, I’ve heard people say that Spencer’s was over-rated. I disagree. It just isn’t a good value. When you can get a steak at Ruby River of similar quality and flavor for $10 - $15 less, well, the better value is to be had there. My boss was paying so I am not really complaining, but when I pay we will go elsewhere.
I tell you this only as an aside. The real point is that while we were dining, my colleague mentioned that she had recently moved from Houston to New York and had to throw or give away tons of stuff - including most of her library, in order to fit in their new housing. In Manhattan, 800 square feet is pretty expensive and you’ve got to have more than just a low six-figure income to purchase much more. A few of my New York colleagues pay as much each month to house a car as I pay for my 4,000 square foot Rambler in South Jordan, Utah sitting on slightly more than a third of an acre.
I remember thinking, at that moment, if I ever moved to New York I would need something like a Kindle because my books are over-flowing my current space. No, over-flowing isn't right - they are bursting my downstairs office at the very seams! Seth sums up why I continue to wait to make the whole-hearted switch to electronic reading. The Kindle is fairly new technology. It is priced poorly right now. It is not yet customer or author friendly. As Seth put it, "My bet is that this is just round one. Round five could be/should be powerful indeed."
Someone will figure it all out, and soon the books loaded on them will be priced more for readers and authors. We'll be able to see the cool cover art when we buy the books. (You can already read the dust cover summary and book excerpts on-line, but you just can't see the art - it's effectiveness as a "tie-breaker" is killed by those little thumbnails.)
When they have all that handled and there are several competitors, I’ll be looking to move from fine leather in my hand to plastic? No, why not fine leather around my electronic reader? And you product geniuses, don’t forget I love to read at the beach as well as in the bed or office. Ensure it feels good in my hand, is well-priced, and I can read at home without a light and on the beach without glare and you have a customer.
But until then, The Illiad just reads better in leather.
Monday, June 16, 2008
That Minimum Wage Job
I cannot thank my daughter's minimum wage employer enough. You see, there is no better argument for her complete focus on a college degree than to remind her of her own tales of what I call the “managerial type” inherent in places that hire young students.
Recently, a dear friend and former colleague gave me a copy of the book, You Want Fries with That: A White-Collar Burnout Experiences Life at Minimum Wage by Prioleau Alexander. This is a hilarious look at minimum wage jobs in America, but you won’t be very far into it when you realize that this highlights what is going very wrong with customer service in America. Here’s a hint: It isn’t simply the work ethic of the coming generation, folks.
Because I am interested in good management everywhere, I’ve been cataloging my own mental lists of things good business governance and management ought to do and the opposites of good management. There are patterns in both Prioleau’s descriptions of minimum wage positions and my daughter's descriptions of her job. As I have tried to tell my son and daughters over the years, there are lots of things wrong with the hamster wheel that is upwardly mobile corporate life, but those things are nothing in comparison with life at the bottom in fast food, retail, phone shops, mall kiosk and far too many “sole-prop” businesses.
It should be noted that many branch or department managers, supervisors, directors, lead persons, foremen, team leaders, and shift supervisors are nothing more than minimum wage jockeys who managed to survive and moved up the chain. They are not well-trained, and generally parrot the words and actions of their former supervisor. It is also important to remember that all you have to do to start a hierarchy is to put a group of humans together. (Or monkeys – this works with all social animals.)
So kids, if the job is minimum wage and you find the training to be more about how to fill out your time card, or what happens when you don’t clock out than about the actual job, you may want to skip it.
On the other hand, if the training is so detailed that you know where you will be standing at, oh, say 11:03 AM on Saturday morning and it will be every Saturday morning, that may be a sign that initiative or thinking isn’t really required either.
If the words, "We didn't hire you to think," ever pass through the lips of your boss, you can be sure of one thing. He or she doesn't think much either.
If you just said, “What training?” that's not a good sign this is a career position.
If you have to find your own coverage for time off, that would be a very good indicator that the manager has decided to: a) cut staff to minimum acceptable levels for financial reasons, b) give up on all that silly interpersonal stuff, and c) become a babysitter.
If there is no “formal procedure” for updating the schedule with “buddy coverage” (i.e. a half sheet of paper that has been copied from a copy of a copy and no longer “sits” square on the paper) and to change shifts you scratch out your name and write in Becky’s name on the calendar with a red pen, you might as well quit now as wait for the fifteenth time Becky didn’t show up for your shift and you got in trouble because “You are responsible for getting reliable coverage for your shift!”
And if you continually cover for people who won’t cover for you, well, you don’t deserve a high school diploma so drop out now.
If motivational or corrective techniques include yelling, screaming, threatening, and doing it in front of other employees or customers; and does not include “Would you please ...,” “Thank You,” “What do you think the problem is?” or “ I think you did that very well,” find a better sort of minimum wage job if you can.
If the customer is always right, and your manager is never around to deal with them when company policies conflict with this “maxim,” then transfer yourself to a stockperson’s position and talk to the shelves all night.
If the usual customer is always angry, skip the job.
If you fill out an application at the customer service desk and turn it in to the employee behind said counter, and she looks at you like you are “nuts” or “new meat,” skip the experience.
If she cringes when the boss yells at her to bring you into the back room for a “look-see,” walk away now.
If other employees tell you that “Day-Vee” is the clear favorite within ten minutes of meeting them, you probably need to check out today. Davey’s lips won’t be displaced by anything but promotion and then you’ll have to work for him.
If “more hours” depends more on whether you are in “good graces” than it does on the amount of work to be done, run, don’t walk, to the exit.
If you start at minimum wage and raises come when the minimum wage rises, there is a good chance that no one is actually there long enough to get one.
If “because I said so, “ and “you know what rolls downhill” are the reasons for doing something you wouldn’t do at home, this isn’t a place for civilized people.
If your boss spends more time at sexual harassment training than any other form of training, you don’t want to be the next lawsuit the organization experiences.
And lastly, if you and all your co-workers love your boss but aren't that thrilled about the job, and it isn't because he or she is cute and datable, quit now! If your boss is doing the kinds of things that make you love them, they will either a) be promoted, b) quit for better pastures, or c) be fired for not getting better results. Then you will get the boss we've been talking about.
All in all though, if you have any questions whether college is for you, take one of these jobs. They will be a reminder to you each and every day that a) there are things worse than the Army National Guard, b) a college or technical school degree is not that big a sacrifice, and c) prison isn’t the only place where you can meet truly sadistic people.
And if you are stuck in one of these things until you get that college degree and need something to get you through, well then consider this fact. The idiot you call boss is only marginally higher than you on the food chain, rents an apartment and drives a rust bucket and – wait for it - makes no more than $10/hour. With an MBA, you can someday downsize them.
There, doesn’t that feel better.
Recently, a dear friend and former colleague gave me a copy of the book, You Want Fries with That: A White-Collar Burnout Experiences Life at Minimum Wage by Prioleau Alexander. This is a hilarious look at minimum wage jobs in America, but you won’t be very far into it when you realize that this highlights what is going very wrong with customer service in America. Here’s a hint: It isn’t simply the work ethic of the coming generation, folks.
Because I am interested in good management everywhere, I’ve been cataloging my own mental lists of things good business governance and management ought to do and the opposites of good management. There are patterns in both Prioleau’s descriptions of minimum wage positions and my daughter's descriptions of her job. As I have tried to tell my son and daughters over the years, there are lots of things wrong with the hamster wheel that is upwardly mobile corporate life, but those things are nothing in comparison with life at the bottom in fast food, retail, phone shops, mall kiosk and far too many “sole-prop” businesses.
It should be noted that many branch or department managers, supervisors, directors, lead persons, foremen, team leaders, and shift supervisors are nothing more than minimum wage jockeys who managed to survive and moved up the chain. They are not well-trained, and generally parrot the words and actions of their former supervisor. It is also important to remember that all you have to do to start a hierarchy is to put a group of humans together. (Or monkeys – this works with all social animals.)
So kids, if the job is minimum wage and you find the training to be more about how to fill out your time card, or what happens when you don’t clock out than about the actual job, you may want to skip it.
On the other hand, if the training is so detailed that you know where you will be standing at, oh, say 11:03 AM on Saturday morning and it will be every Saturday morning, that may be a sign that initiative or thinking isn’t really required either.
If the words, "We didn't hire you to think," ever pass through the lips of your boss, you can be sure of one thing. He or she doesn't think much either.
If you just said, “What training?” that's not a good sign this is a career position.
If you have to find your own coverage for time off, that would be a very good indicator that the manager has decided to: a) cut staff to minimum acceptable levels for financial reasons, b) give up on all that silly interpersonal stuff, and c) become a babysitter.
If there is no “formal procedure” for updating the schedule with “buddy coverage” (i.e. a half sheet of paper that has been copied from a copy of a copy and no longer “sits” square on the paper) and to change shifts you scratch out your name and write in Becky’s name on the calendar with a red pen, you might as well quit now as wait for the fifteenth time Becky didn’t show up for your shift and you got in trouble because “You are responsible for getting reliable coverage for your shift!”
And if you continually cover for people who won’t cover for you, well, you don’t deserve a high school diploma so drop out now.
If motivational or corrective techniques include yelling, screaming, threatening, and doing it in front of other employees or customers; and does not include “Would you please ...,” “Thank You,” “What do you think the problem is?” or “ I think you did that very well,” find a better sort of minimum wage job if you can.
If the customer is always right, and your manager is never around to deal with them when company policies conflict with this “maxim,” then transfer yourself to a stockperson’s position and talk to the shelves all night.
If the usual customer is always angry, skip the job.
If you fill out an application at the customer service desk and turn it in to the employee behind said counter, and she looks at you like you are “nuts” or “new meat,” skip the experience.
If she cringes when the boss yells at her to bring you into the back room for a “look-see,” walk away now.
If other employees tell you that “Day-Vee” is the clear favorite within ten minutes of meeting them, you probably need to check out today. Davey’s lips won’t be displaced by anything but promotion and then you’ll have to work for him.
If “more hours” depends more on whether you are in “good graces” than it does on the amount of work to be done, run, don’t walk, to the exit.
If you start at minimum wage and raises come when the minimum wage rises, there is a good chance that no one is actually there long enough to get one.
If “because I said so, “ and “you know what rolls downhill” are the reasons for doing something you wouldn’t do at home, this isn’t a place for civilized people.
If your boss spends more time at sexual harassment training than any other form of training, you don’t want to be the next lawsuit the organization experiences.
And lastly, if you and all your co-workers love your boss but aren't that thrilled about the job, and it isn't because he or she is cute and datable, quit now! If your boss is doing the kinds of things that make you love them, they will either a) be promoted, b) quit for better pastures, or c) be fired for not getting better results. Then you will get the boss we've been talking about.
All in all though, if you have any questions whether college is for you, take one of these jobs. They will be a reminder to you each and every day that a) there are things worse than the Army National Guard, b) a college or technical school degree is not that big a sacrifice, and c) prison isn’t the only place where you can meet truly sadistic people.
And if you are stuck in one of these things until you get that college degree and need something to get you through, well then consider this fact. The idiot you call boss is only marginally higher than you on the food chain, rents an apartment and drives a rust bucket and – wait for it - makes no more than $10/hour. With an MBA, you can someday downsize them.
There, doesn’t that feel better.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Crime and Punishment
It is far past time for me to speak out about an issue we need to address as a society and nation. It’s been my observation that social issues have pendulums that swing from left to right, from liberal to conservative, or from lenient to unyielding depending upon your point of view.
There are, however, social pendulums which, despite physical laws otherwise, never seem to cross over the desired balance of mid-point and remain ever swinging in the more unyielding direction. These social pendulums, which never seem to balance, have to do with crime and punishment.
Early yesterday morning, my troubled and hopeless son tried to take his own life with the anti-depressants that were recently prescribed to keep just such a thing from taking place. The attempt came at the end of one of the most hopeful periods of his adult life. Step by step he was cleaning things up and had more to look forward to than ever before.
From an early age, after involvement with a crummy crowd, he began a lifestyle that brought him in direct and frequent confrontation with the law. The skirmishes were pretty one-sided, and before he was twenty he owed in excess of forty thousand dollars in fines and restitution.
The High School diploma he barely earned in two serious years of class work (mostly because Grandpa took two years out of his life to tutor, mentor and monitor him) qualified him for jobs ranging from $5.50/hour to $8.00/hour. Even without any additional interest, minimal living expenses, and no family or auto, he was facing more than a decade to repay all his fines.
Now let me note that while some may think that the fines were in lieu of prison time, such is not the case. He’d done the allotted time. Upon release, he faced the second of the two punishments for his crime.
Those crushing fines with little opportunity for repayment got suddenly bigger when he was released from parole and the state then added interest to the debts. Suddenly, a young man who could not qualify for a loan that big found himself buried in debt.
He is not alone. There are far too many in that position. And most of them won’t even try, as he has, to be a productive member of society. They will just join with others who have the same problems, drop out of civilized society, and stay ahead of the law until they finally get caught and return to prison.
Well, if you’ve suspended your judgment long enough to read this far, here is the problem: A system that provides unintended consequences! In our zeal as a community to deter crime with stiff punishments, steep fines and hefty restitution, we’ve unwittingly developed a system of justice that makes it impossible for released criminals to join our civilized society and become reformed and productive citizens.
Forget, for just a moment, the fact that our jails and prisons are institutions of advanced criminal learning and have nothing to do with either reformation or deterrence. Forget that our aggressive prosecutors (often looking for a political career) pile on charges so that one offense can equal a dozen charges. Forget that those prosecutors in our system have no motivation to seek the truth. And forget too that public defenders are often overworked, underpaid, and also often not the top of their law class at a less than stellar name law school.
Forget that we turn a blind eye to the violence perpetrated by the inmates on one another because after all, we don’t really care what one criminal does to another as long as they aren’t doing it to us.
Lets just look at what happens to us when our young men (mostly black and Hispanic, but of European descent too) come out of those earthly versions of Dante’s Inferno. And lets pretend one of them comes out with real, sincere intent to rejoin civilized society and become a productive part of it.
They have girlfriends. They have family. They get jobs – but not the one’s which disallow felons. They have debts. They live in what they can afford – mostly pigsties. They work hard – harder than almost anyone in American except our immigrants, because that is the kind of job a felon gets (well, unless he has a celebrity clause or wrote a book and can go on the speaking circuit.)
They make very little. They never dent the debts. They sink into desperation. Some drink to escape. Some get angry. Some do drugs. And when the desperation is overwhelming, and they realize that the deck is stacked against them, they return to crime. And they feel absolutely justified.
And the charges begin to rack up. And the fines increase. If they aren’t violent, or a white-collar criminal, or a child molester, then they aren’t going back inside. A lot of times, it is just DUIs. And until you’ve killed someone or had many multiples of those, you just add fines.
So the debt increases. And social workers utter words of hope that both the released felon and the social worker know to be untrue. The young man started it by being anti-social but now an unforgiving system and society finished it by ensuring that he never re-enters society.
And politicians and talk-show hosts continue to talk about crime and how we need to get tougher on criminals – especially the habitual criminals, when we built the system that creates habitual criminals out of wild young men.
I am not arguing for leniency. I am not arguing for punishments that are hardly more than a slap on the wrist. I am not arguing for the release of any felon before he “pays his debt to society” (now there is a phrase I grew up with that you never hear any more.)
At the root of all this is the feeling that those of us in civilized society are somehow superior to those we characterize as Darwinian animals in the prisons. (Another phrase I grew up with that I never hear anymore is, “There but for the grace of God, go I.”)
What I am arguing for is an end to it all when the time has been completed, for reasonable fines that are not impossible to repay, and that we impose fines or impose jail time, but not both. I am arguing that it is time to clean up prisons and provide the same level of protection for all citizens, incarcerated or at liberty. I am asking for the opportunity for those to go astray to come back and be a part of polite society if they so choose.
I am calling for a reformation of the whole system.
What we are doing isn't working. And the experts seem smart, well-educated and well-intentioned, but they aren't getting the results we need (and the proof, after all, of how smart they really are is in the pudding!")
I am asking that we at least try to reclaim some of those lost 2 billion who sit today in prison in this country, and millions more who are currently out, but may soon be re-incarcerated because they have no hope.
In short, I am asking that you consider that there is another side to the “crime and punishment pendulum” - that pendulum marked justice on one side and mercy on the other, and do something to balance that pendulum so that our entire society can benefit.
After all is said, do you think prison is free or that inmates pay for it? What is the worth to our society of a reformed and productive human being? It is much more than the price of that prison bed, my friend. It is life itself.
There are, however, social pendulums which, despite physical laws otherwise, never seem to cross over the desired balance of mid-point and remain ever swinging in the more unyielding direction. These social pendulums, which never seem to balance, have to do with crime and punishment.
Early yesterday morning, my troubled and hopeless son tried to take his own life with the anti-depressants that were recently prescribed to keep just such a thing from taking place. The attempt came at the end of one of the most hopeful periods of his adult life. Step by step he was cleaning things up and had more to look forward to than ever before.
From an early age, after involvement with a crummy crowd, he began a lifestyle that brought him in direct and frequent confrontation with the law. The skirmishes were pretty one-sided, and before he was twenty he owed in excess of forty thousand dollars in fines and restitution.
The High School diploma he barely earned in two serious years of class work (mostly because Grandpa took two years out of his life to tutor, mentor and monitor him) qualified him for jobs ranging from $5.50/hour to $8.00/hour. Even without any additional interest, minimal living expenses, and no family or auto, he was facing more than a decade to repay all his fines.
Now let me note that while some may think that the fines were in lieu of prison time, such is not the case. He’d done the allotted time. Upon release, he faced the second of the two punishments for his crime.
Those crushing fines with little opportunity for repayment got suddenly bigger when he was released from parole and the state then added interest to the debts. Suddenly, a young man who could not qualify for a loan that big found himself buried in debt.
He is not alone. There are far too many in that position. And most of them won’t even try, as he has, to be a productive member of society. They will just join with others who have the same problems, drop out of civilized society, and stay ahead of the law until they finally get caught and return to prison.
Well, if you’ve suspended your judgment long enough to read this far, here is the problem: A system that provides unintended consequences! In our zeal as a community to deter crime with stiff punishments, steep fines and hefty restitution, we’ve unwittingly developed a system of justice that makes it impossible for released criminals to join our civilized society and become reformed and productive citizens.
Forget, for just a moment, the fact that our jails and prisons are institutions of advanced criminal learning and have nothing to do with either reformation or deterrence. Forget that our aggressive prosecutors (often looking for a political career) pile on charges so that one offense can equal a dozen charges. Forget that those prosecutors in our system have no motivation to seek the truth. And forget too that public defenders are often overworked, underpaid, and also often not the top of their law class at a less than stellar name law school.
Forget that we turn a blind eye to the violence perpetrated by the inmates on one another because after all, we don’t really care what one criminal does to another as long as they aren’t doing it to us.
Lets just look at what happens to us when our young men (mostly black and Hispanic, but of European descent too) come out of those earthly versions of Dante’s Inferno. And lets pretend one of them comes out with real, sincere intent to rejoin civilized society and become a productive part of it.
They have girlfriends. They have family. They get jobs – but not the one’s which disallow felons. They have debts. They live in what they can afford – mostly pigsties. They work hard – harder than almost anyone in American except our immigrants, because that is the kind of job a felon gets (well, unless he has a celebrity clause or wrote a book and can go on the speaking circuit.)
They make very little. They never dent the debts. They sink into desperation. Some drink to escape. Some get angry. Some do drugs. And when the desperation is overwhelming, and they realize that the deck is stacked against them, they return to crime. And they feel absolutely justified.
And the charges begin to rack up. And the fines increase. If they aren’t violent, or a white-collar criminal, or a child molester, then they aren’t going back inside. A lot of times, it is just DUIs. And until you’ve killed someone or had many multiples of those, you just add fines.
So the debt increases. And social workers utter words of hope that both the released felon and the social worker know to be untrue. The young man started it by being anti-social but now an unforgiving system and society finished it by ensuring that he never re-enters society.
And politicians and talk-show hosts continue to talk about crime and how we need to get tougher on criminals – especially the habitual criminals, when we built the system that creates habitual criminals out of wild young men.
I am not arguing for leniency. I am not arguing for punishments that are hardly more than a slap on the wrist. I am not arguing for the release of any felon before he “pays his debt to society” (now there is a phrase I grew up with that you never hear any more.)
At the root of all this is the feeling that those of us in civilized society are somehow superior to those we characterize as Darwinian animals in the prisons. (Another phrase I grew up with that I never hear anymore is, “There but for the grace of God, go I.”)
What I am arguing for is an end to it all when the time has been completed, for reasonable fines that are not impossible to repay, and that we impose fines or impose jail time, but not both. I am arguing that it is time to clean up prisons and provide the same level of protection for all citizens, incarcerated or at liberty. I am asking for the opportunity for those to go astray to come back and be a part of polite society if they so choose.
I am calling for a reformation of the whole system.
What we are doing isn't working. And the experts seem smart, well-educated and well-intentioned, but they aren't getting the results we need (and the proof, after all, of how smart they really are is in the pudding!")
I am asking that we at least try to reclaim some of those lost 2 billion who sit today in prison in this country, and millions more who are currently out, but may soon be re-incarcerated because they have no hope.
In short, I am asking that you consider that there is another side to the “crime and punishment pendulum” - that pendulum marked justice on one side and mercy on the other, and do something to balance that pendulum so that our entire society can benefit.
After all is said, do you think prison is free or that inmates pay for it? What is the worth to our society of a reformed and productive human being? It is much more than the price of that prison bed, my friend. It is life itself.
Friday, June 6, 2008
The 64th Anniversary of D-Day
64-years ago, June 6, 1944, Allied Forces began the operation that came to be known as D-Day. A little more than 2 ½ years after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor plunged the US into that great European struggle, many of what some have called “the greatest generation” paid the ultimate price for freedom and liberty.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, speaking – no that is not right, he was praying out loud on a radio broadcast to the nation, said, “Almighty God. Our sons, pride of our nations, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor. A struggle to preserve our republic, our religion and our civilization and to set free a suffering humanity. They will be sore tried by night and by day without rest until the victory is won. Some will never return. Embrace these Father and receive them, the heroic servants, into Thy Kingdom."
This morning on the radio, I heard a D-Day survivor describing what it was like see the front of those “Higgins Boats” drop, to push out into the sea through the bodies of those dead and dying, then to reach the beach and simultaneously work to avoid tumbling over the dead in the sand while trying to take the beach from those who fought like lions to keep it.
I’ve been on those beaches. As a mere child living just outside of Paris my parents took me to see those places. They didn’t think the enormity and sacredness of it got through to me, but it did. I will never forget my horror at learning that the Nazi soldiers would shoot down a paratrooper while he helplessly hung there, the cords of his parachute dangling him in front of deadly guns like a duck sitting on a pond during hunting season.
I’ve also visited Pearl Harbor twice, and with my own daughters met and talked with a survivor of that small holocaust. The horror of that event never ceases to move me to tears. On these days of anniversary, the sacrifice that so few made for the rest of us causes me to stop, to ponder the terrible loss, and to feel a gratitude for men and women I mostly never met.
My own military service during peacetime is no comparison for what these men and women did. My own service is no match for the sacrifices my own Father and Uncle made during Vietnam. Neither is it the equivalent of the service of my own brother Brandt in countless “skirmishes,” over twenty years, or of my son-in-law Jake, who has served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
But I’ve never bought that whole “greatest generation” thing. I grew up on military bases – they were MY home town! I’ve met real heroes from every war or conflict of my lifetime. They were not all of that one generation. And none of those who fought at Anzio also fought at Valley Forge or Gettysburg. How can we forget those sacrifices?
I tend to believe that if those of the current generation were faced with a similar need they would step into the sea and fight their way onto the beach just like the soldiers of that generation.
But I don’t need to view any generation as “greatest” or “best” or “finest-kind” to feel deep gratitude for those who made places like Omaha, Normandy, Ford Island, Guadalcanal or Anzio sacred places.
Today I say, as I often do, to all who have worn any of the uniforms of the US Armed Forces in wartime; thank you for your service and sacrifice.
And I add, to all of those who wore those uniforms at any time, who trained and prepared, and even expected to be called upon; thank you for your preparation and your readiness.
Without all of you, there would be no freedom and liberty in this nation.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, speaking – no that is not right, he was praying out loud on a radio broadcast to the nation, said, “Almighty God. Our sons, pride of our nations, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor. A struggle to preserve our republic, our religion and our civilization and to set free a suffering humanity. They will be sore tried by night and by day without rest until the victory is won. Some will never return. Embrace these Father and receive them, the heroic servants, into Thy Kingdom."
This morning on the radio, I heard a D-Day survivor describing what it was like see the front of those “Higgins Boats” drop, to push out into the sea through the bodies of those dead and dying, then to reach the beach and simultaneously work to avoid tumbling over the dead in the sand while trying to take the beach from those who fought like lions to keep it.
I’ve been on those beaches. As a mere child living just outside of Paris my parents took me to see those places. They didn’t think the enormity and sacredness of it got through to me, but it did. I will never forget my horror at learning that the Nazi soldiers would shoot down a paratrooper while he helplessly hung there, the cords of his parachute dangling him in front of deadly guns like a duck sitting on a pond during hunting season.
I’ve also visited Pearl Harbor twice, and with my own daughters met and talked with a survivor of that small holocaust. The horror of that event never ceases to move me to tears. On these days of anniversary, the sacrifice that so few made for the rest of us causes me to stop, to ponder the terrible loss, and to feel a gratitude for men and women I mostly never met.
My own military service during peacetime is no comparison for what these men and women did. My own service is no match for the sacrifices my own Father and Uncle made during Vietnam. Neither is it the equivalent of the service of my own brother Brandt in countless “skirmishes,” over twenty years, or of my son-in-law Jake, who has served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
But I’ve never bought that whole “greatest generation” thing. I grew up on military bases – they were MY home town! I’ve met real heroes from every war or conflict of my lifetime. They were not all of that one generation. And none of those who fought at Anzio also fought at Valley Forge or Gettysburg. How can we forget those sacrifices?
I tend to believe that if those of the current generation were faced with a similar need they would step into the sea and fight their way onto the beach just like the soldiers of that generation.
But I don’t need to view any generation as “greatest” or “best” or “finest-kind” to feel deep gratitude for those who made places like Omaha, Normandy, Ford Island, Guadalcanal or Anzio sacred places.
Today I say, as I often do, to all who have worn any of the uniforms of the US Armed Forces in wartime; thank you for your service and sacrifice.
And I add, to all of those who wore those uniforms at any time, who trained and prepared, and even expected to be called upon; thank you for your preparation and your readiness.
Without all of you, there would be no freedom and liberty in this nation.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Last High School Graduation
Okay, so my baby graduated from High School yesterday and I am officially old. And after driving nearly an hour (in awful traffic) to get Natalie to the UVU Special Events Center an hour early, sitting through almost three hours of Graduation, and driving back home in that same traffic - I am also officially tired.
I don't know why High School Graduations must include so many speeches by people that we wouldn't normally listen to, but they do. At the Bingham High Graduation, the Senior Class President did a very nice job welcoming all, introducing some of highlights of their experience, and keeping things moving. And the Valedictorian did a decent job too.
The Jordan District Superintendent obviously knew what he was doing too, as his remarks were very short, relevant and well received. Why Principals and School Board members think any of us want to hear their rambling about - well, whatever, is beyond me. If ever I have to speak at one of these affairs, I will be short, pithy, and funny and then sit down.
And the music - why? I recall, out there in Victorville, California at my fairly small graduation on the football field that we had the school Jazz Band playing. Today it seems we must have several numbers by elements of the choir, and the band or orchestra must also play not only a prelude but also at least one number. At the Bingham Graduation, this was a lengthy, fairly obscure and unusual symphonic piece that will not engender appreciation from those who are not classicists, and was not all that well played to boot.
Is it possible that all the vocal and instrumental arts groups do not have enough opportunities for performance? Hardly. And when it takes a full hour to get all the grads their diploma covers - why would we ever add more?
It was worth it all for my Natalie. And my Natalie has a sensibly outgoing personality. She spotted us in the audience (a major accomplishment) and ensured that she turned toward us often so we could take pictures of her throughout the event. We were reminded of the other High School Graduations we have attended, Lyssha at Olympus, Lee at Alta, and Nicole at West Jordan. It was a bit nostalgic.
But I can't imagine why I would want to attend another one of these as long as I live. I think this is why we keep photos but do not ask for DVDs of the entire affair. We can relive the high points of the experience with pictures, and skip the rest. (For the record, not a single flash went off while the principal, superintendent or school board member were speaking. It seems no one wanted to remember that part of the program. )
Thankfully, there are many years before I will have to think about attending these for grandchildren.
I don't know why High School Graduations must include so many speeches by people that we wouldn't normally listen to, but they do. At the Bingham High Graduation, the Senior Class President did a very nice job welcoming all, introducing some of highlights of their experience, and keeping things moving. And the Valedictorian did a decent job too.
The Jordan District Superintendent obviously knew what he was doing too, as his remarks were very short, relevant and well received. Why Principals and School Board members think any of us want to hear their rambling about - well, whatever, is beyond me. If ever I have to speak at one of these affairs, I will be short, pithy, and funny and then sit down.
And the music - why? I recall, out there in Victorville, California at my fairly small graduation on the football field that we had the school Jazz Band playing. Today it seems we must have several numbers by elements of the choir, and the band or orchestra must also play not only a prelude but also at least one number. At the Bingham Graduation, this was a lengthy, fairly obscure and unusual symphonic piece that will not engender appreciation from those who are not classicists, and was not all that well played to boot.
Is it possible that all the vocal and instrumental arts groups do not have enough opportunities for performance? Hardly. And when it takes a full hour to get all the grads their diploma covers - why would we ever add more?
It was worth it all for my Natalie. And my Natalie has a sensibly outgoing personality. She spotted us in the audience (a major accomplishment) and ensured that she turned toward us often so we could take pictures of her throughout the event. We were reminded of the other High School Graduations we have attended, Lyssha at Olympus, Lee at Alta, and Nicole at West Jordan. It was a bit nostalgic.
But I can't imagine why I would want to attend another one of these as long as I live. I think this is why we keep photos but do not ask for DVDs of the entire affair. We can relive the high points of the experience with pictures, and skip the rest. (For the record, not a single flash went off while the principal, superintendent or school board member were speaking. It seems no one wanted to remember that part of the program. )
Thankfully, there are many years before I will have to think about attending these for grandchildren.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Daughters and Granddaughters
One of my six granddaughters spent Friday night and a large part of Saturday with us. Ali is five, very bright, and if there are no words coming from her mouth she is asleep. It is that simple. She is very creative. And has more energy that that Energizer Bunny thing!
We went to Apollo Burger for lunch on Saturday. Because Apollo was one of the Greek pantheon of gods, for years it has been an inside joke with my friend and former colleague, Todd, to refer to the place as "Greek-God" Burger, as in, "I'll meet you noonish at Greek-God Burger on Thursday."
So, as I held Ali's hand on the way into the Greek Fast Food Restaurant, Ali asked, "Popie, What is this place?" and I answered without thinking, "Greek-God Burger." Her incredulous look led me to realize that I had made a mistake, and I quickly told her it was Apollo Burger.
Imagine the look on Nicole's face later in the day when Ali told her that we had lunch at "the restaurant where Jesus cooks."
And speaking of Nicole, she had the first of what I am sure will be several wedding showers on Saturday evening. This one was given by Dan's Grandmother. Nicole was taken back by the generosity of the many friends of Dan's family that Nicole has never even met. As always, Nicole was gracious and I'm sure they all loved her. (How could they not?)
Sunday, my youngest daughter, Natalie, rounded out my very feminine weekend when she graduated from the 4-year LDS Seminary program. (Thankfully there was some balance when I had lunch with my son Friday, and then attended Lodge later that night and enjoyed the camaraderie of my fraternal brothers!)
There are Seminary buildings adjacent to the Middle and High Schools in Utah and parts of Idaho. These students either attend early in the morning before school starts, or during the day in a "release time" arrangement where they give up an elective to take the religion class. These classes are more than Sunday School, but less than a full-blown religion class and teach LDS youth how to apply the theology of their faith to their everyday life.
Both Natalie and Nicole are graduates of Seminary. Both were deeply impressed and influenced by their experiences. Both have an inner spiritual strength I don't think I possessed when I was their age. And both are committed to living a good, moral, and productive life. I continue to be very impressed with and by them.
I realized Sunday that we are learning things about our Natalie that we didn't know because we never attended school with her. We always knew she was bright, social, sensitive and very funny. What we are seeing now is that she is extremely thoughtful, artistic and empathetic. It is interesting what you don't see until they are all grown up!
All in all, it was a very satisfying weekend of daughters and granddaughters! Hawkeye Pierce would have said it, "Finestkind!"
We went to Apollo Burger for lunch on Saturday. Because Apollo was one of the Greek pantheon of gods, for years it has been an inside joke with my friend and former colleague, Todd, to refer to the place as "Greek-God" Burger, as in, "I'll meet you noonish at Greek-God Burger on Thursday."
So, as I held Ali's hand on the way into the Greek Fast Food Restaurant, Ali asked, "Popie, What is this place?" and I answered without thinking, "Greek-God Burger." Her incredulous look led me to realize that I had made a mistake, and I quickly told her it was Apollo Burger.
Imagine the look on Nicole's face later in the day when Ali told her that we had lunch at "the restaurant where Jesus cooks."
And speaking of Nicole, she had the first of what I am sure will be several wedding showers on Saturday evening. This one was given by Dan's Grandmother. Nicole was taken back by the generosity of the many friends of Dan's family that Nicole has never even met. As always, Nicole was gracious and I'm sure they all loved her. (How could they not?)
Sunday, my youngest daughter, Natalie, rounded out my very feminine weekend when she graduated from the 4-year LDS Seminary program. (Thankfully there was some balance when I had lunch with my son Friday, and then attended Lodge later that night and enjoyed the camaraderie of my fraternal brothers!)
There are Seminary buildings adjacent to the Middle and High Schools in Utah and parts of Idaho. These students either attend early in the morning before school starts, or during the day in a "release time" arrangement where they give up an elective to take the religion class. These classes are more than Sunday School, but less than a full-blown religion class and teach LDS youth how to apply the theology of their faith to their everyday life.
Both Natalie and Nicole are graduates of Seminary. Both were deeply impressed and influenced by their experiences. Both have an inner spiritual strength I don't think I possessed when I was their age. And both are committed to living a good, moral, and productive life. I continue to be very impressed with and by them.
I realized Sunday that we are learning things about our Natalie that we didn't know because we never attended school with her. We always knew she was bright, social, sensitive and very funny. What we are seeing now is that she is extremely thoughtful, artistic and empathetic. It is interesting what you don't see until they are all grown up!
All in all, it was a very satisfying weekend of daughters and granddaughters! Hawkeye Pierce would have said it, "Finestkind!"
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