Keeping It Real
I read a little bit of everything. Good or bad, I read it. I read Newsweek, Time, the Bible, fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi (rarely), newsletters, newspapers, internet news, biographies, comics (again, rarely), manifestos, textbooks, love letters, billboards, graffiti, and the list goes on. It’s almost as though my brain craves more and more information. My guess is that it makes each of us feel better when we feel informed. So here is what is sad…
Discrimination is illegal, as it should be. It is illegal to discriminate based on race, religion, national origin, belief system, age, and so on. That isn’t the part that is sad. What IS sad is that in much of what we read, we are lead to believe that if we are wronged, there is something that the government - federal usually - can do about. We read that if we simply file a claim with OSHA, our attorney, the HR office of the company, the social security office, the attorney general, or some other government entity, they will right the wrong that has been done against us. And that is exactly where I would contend that most of us in the American public are quite naive.
I have worked in more than a couple of environments when HR rules were certainly being broken and local, state, and/or federal law was being broken as well. And large corporations, as well as small business owners or politicians would have you believe that you could take action to right that wrong. Maybe. And maybe not.
Am I suggesting this month that we all become jaded and give up the good fight when we or someone around us is being personally wronged? No. What I am suggesting is that we become less naive in our dealings with entities much larger than us. I have had to learn the hard way to “keep it real,” and to understand that I’m not nearly as powerful sometimes as those who have done something against me. I’ll close with a Kenny Rogers thought. While the Gambler might seem silly to some, the words provide excellent advice for life: “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run. You never count your money, sittin’ at the table; they’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealins’ done.”