Worthy Mention

Flint is back in the news, folks! This time, we rated in the top 10 of the 'fastest-dying cities' in the US. This might seem like a discouraging pronouncement, but when you think about it, Flint has been begging for outright death for some time. The average resident gets on not so much like a citizen, but a casualty. Honestly, I don't think any real promising steps forward can be made until it does. There are still a healthy sum of politicians and administrators who simply will not let the beast fall. They gather around it like greedy relatives surrounding the bed of a stalwart patriarch who refuses to give his last breath. Meanwhile, the remaining few take the meager wealth, and with unwatched liberty, practice all manner of corruption.
Of course, I've been gone for a few years. Maybe it's changed. Maybe the nation is wrong about Flint. All I know is, the sooner the buzzards stop circling and the dust settles, the phoenix can finally spring forth to new life and prosperity, and so can its citizens.

Chairman of the Bored...

Ever decide to do something significant? Maybe like relocate, leave a relationship, quit a job? I've decided to quit my job. However, due to certain delicate financial circumstances, I cannot leave quite yet, nor can I announce it and begin the process of separation in a formal manner. This is the true test of patience, sitting here at my desk, not doing any work to speak of, partially because I'm over it, partially because those that are taking over my responsibilities really need to do so while I'm still around so that they can ask any questions they need to while I'm still here, but probably mostly because I'm just over it. There are those who can function, even flourish, in a corporate sales environment. They may get great satisfaction over doing things like 1) talking to clients, 2) preparing bogus reports to satisfy the queries of overpaid and underinvolved superiors, or 3) pretending that their products and services are incredibly valuable and that everything on the back end is being handled ethically and responsibly. I am not among them. I am among those who believe that listening to your employees, all of them, is the best way to manage a company. I am among those who believe that respect is something you must earn, that the only valid type of leadership is servant leadership. If you've seen the Dark Knight, you'll remember the moment early in the film where the Joker literally throws one of his subordinates under the bus. This is the kind of thing I see daily where I work. The corporate officers may as well be wearing clown masks and toting semi-automatic handguns. Sometimes I get the feeling that they, too, just want to watch things burn.
Finally, I am a believer that you only have one life, and although it stretches on beyond the world as we know it, there are opportunities unique to this chapter, ones that will not be dangled permanently before us, patiently waiting. Happiness is one of them. A co-worker told me not too long ago that 'if you're going to sell your soul, make sure you get a good price for it'. With all the money that is being thrown so liberally (though selectively) around at this company, I have decided that my asking price is too high. So, I'm taking my toys and moving to another sandbox.

Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of my life: "Philosophy Does Bake Bread; Danes Puzzled"...