BETTER I SHOULD BE KILLED OR DISCHARGED FOR WHAT I AM THAN PROMOTED FOR WHAT I AM NOT. WHAT CAN BE WORSE THAN TO BE PLACED IN A POSITION OF AUTHORITY FALSELY? AND HAS ANYONE, HONESTLY NOW, EVER BEEN PROMOTED RIGHTFULLY? A BRILLIANT MAN ONCE TAUGHT THAT THE WORST THING A BUSINESS OR OFFICE OF ANY KIND CAN DO IS TO BASE PAY ON MERIT. SUCH A PRACTICE BREEDS COMPETITION AMONG THE GROUP, THE CONCEALMENT OF INFORMATION FROM ONE’S COMPETITORS, FEAR, DECEIT, HATRED, AND ALL THE REST OF THE CORRUPTION ALL GROUPS SUFFER. IS PROMOTION EVER EVEN REMOTELY CONNECTED TO SOMEONE’S WORTH? ASK YOURSELF THIS: CAN ANY MAN JUDGE ANOTHER? IS PROMOTION ANYTHING BUT A CORRUPT GAME? IF I PROMOTE YOU MAYBE I WILL BE PROMOTED. IS THAT ALL? NOT MUCH OF A RECOMMENDATION FOR THE USE OF SUCH TACTICS, IS IT? LISTEN. WHO CAME UP WITH THE IDEA, AND IT IS ONLY AN IDEA, THAT WE SHOULD STRIVE TO PLACE THE BETTER PLAYERS TOGETHER SO AS TO CREATE A SUPER TEAM? OF WHAT POSSIBLE GOOD IS A SUPERIOR TEAM? EXAMINE WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE WHOLE SOCIETY. A LOT OF BORED DULLARDS, RIGHT? OBSERVERS. UNFULFILLED DREAMERS WHO BUY TICKETS AND STAND IN LINES AND A FEW VERY LONELY CELEBRITIES NO LONGER ABLE TO DO SIMPLE THINGS LIKE RIDE A BIKE THROUGH A PARK ON A LOVELY SPRING DAY WITH SOMEONE YOU LOVE. FOREVER BEING SPIED UPON AND HARASSED. FOR WHAT? WHEN I WAS A BOY WE MET AT A PARK ON A SATURDAY MORNING, CHOSE SIDES, AND PLAYED UNTIL WE WERE FORCED TO STOP. EVERYBODY PLAYED. WHEN I LEFT THE FIELD OF PLAY I FELT DEEPLY GOOD BY KNOWING I HAD PLAYED MY BEST AND LEARNED A NEW TRICK OR TWO. NEXT WEEK THE TEAMS WOULD BE ALTOGETHER DIFFERENT AND NO KID GAVE A DAMN. LOOK. I WAS BLESSED ONCE TO BE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO ALLOW PEOPLE IN A GROUP OF 400 ADULTS WHO WERE COWORKERS IN AN ENTERPRISE TO EXPRESS WITHOUT FEAR OF PUNISHMENT WHAT THEY WANTED THEY DID NOT HAVE. IT HAPPENED MANY TIMES THE FIRST YEAR. NOT ONCE DID ANY EMPLOYEE ASK FOR ANY TYPE OF PERSONAL PROMOTION OR FAVOR OR PRIVILEGE. ALL ASKED FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO DO THEIR WORK BETTER. THEY REALLY WANTED MORE INFORMATION SHARING AND MORE FREEDOM TO DO THE JOB THEY WERE ASSIGNED IN EXCELLENT FASHION. AND IT NEVER FAILED THAT THEIR BOSSES WERE ASTOUNDED AND CHANGED THEIR ATTITUDES COMPLETELY. WE ALL KNOW THIS TO BE SO WE HAVE JUST FORGOTTEN. AND AS SOON AS I LEFT THAT PLACE THEY ALL BEGAN TO FORGET AGAIN. MUST IT REMAIN SO? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Life cannot be explained. Accept this much for now and flow with me. Authority has us in complete denial about it most of the time. This blog wants to show there is a whole different way to live and humans can do it and have done it before. It is hoped we get that job done.
THE STORY OF JOHNNY WHOOPER SWAN
We go to school trusting our parents. We meet a teacher there who stands up front with a big desk, and a pointer. She or he trains us in an authoritative manner. We attach mentally to a life long need for authority in order to live lives successfully. Right so far?
In my case, at the age of 25 I was ready to enter the practice of law where I hoped for success and a happy life finally. Very shortly, very shortly, I became anxious. There was a foreboding. I was made more uncomfortable with each experience. Law work is nothing like what I was told it would be. The system is corrupt. But I still cling to my expectation that career success is necessary to my happiness as a man. Each day my grasp of what the fuck success amounts to after all becomes more clouded, murkier. I hear songs on the airwaves and at concerts which describe my life as the life of a fool. What am I becoming? I want to rip off my business suit to run naked in the street with my hair on fire! But I am too afraid.
In strange, weird (weird comes from a word meaning wise), fragmented steps I go about a journey of my own believing myself to be the first man to have failed in such a total way which journey works so as to break up my career, end a marriage, and start an entirely new way of relating with my two children whom I love deeply. Almost magically I meet a woman who is a career counselor who asserts a beautiful message that I am made to be joyful in my work everyday and at all levels. This understanding sets me on a completely new course. It is no longer a world of systems to me but an undivided one of unlimited beauty. It reminds me of a painting. A true masterpiece. I am drawn from within to learn the truth about my identity and nobody else can teach me that. From this point onward I will use thinking capacity for mastering mechanical processes and follow my heart, which includes my whole nature, which includes your whole nature and that of every human being for all the rest. I’ll go by the name Johnny Whooper Swan who does not explain itself to anyone. By my fruits shall I be known. Watch me soar!
