Notes in the key of C

    When I opened the morning paper and saw this  headline.  the answer to this question and circumstances that support it all came to mind instantly.  So, let me ask YOU?  Does the organization who employs you really care about you as an individual?  I remember the motto of a large computer products company in California, where I worked for six years, that states, “Every person deserves to know the significance of his/her job”.  So……if you are one who’s always on time, rarely misses a day,  works diligently, strives to complete each task to the best of his/her ability and never complains or “makes waves”,  how secure do you feel about your job?

     It’s true, so many people go to work just to take home a paycheck once a week or twice a month, depending on your particular situation.  Just show up every day, do just enough to meet minimal expectations, don’t contribute any more than is necessary, never volunteer and punch out at the end of your eight hours and go home.   If the only thing you find rewarding about your job is the paycheck,  then you’ll probably be more likely to quit and walk out in response to any incident that makes you mad enough to leave.  You tell yourself, “I was looking for a job when I came here so I can find another one when I leave”.  You have no commitment…it’s just a paycheck.

      Maybe, you’re the devoted employee,  hard-working, willing to focus your abilities, energy and ideas to benefit your employer and after years of service, you learn that the company is downsizing, or planning to outsource jobs to China or Mexico, where people are willing to do your job for a fraction of what you’re paid.  Rumours swirl and eventually reveal themselves to be true that the doors will close for the last time at your location because the company is consolidating and moving operations to another state.  Some will be offered to relocate and others will be laid off,  which simply is the company’s way of saying, “See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya!”

     So, “smell the coffee, folks!”  In the real world of business,  the individual rides the bottom rung of the priority ladder.The bottom line, “the almighty dollar”, rules and makes changes in the rules.  Companies expect two weeks notice when you intend to leave a job but will fire you on the spot.  It’s true, some situations warrant immediate termination but it’s not always a “innocent until proven guilty” scenario and justice in the workplace is a pipe dream and a search for “a needle in a haystack”.

  Hijacked planes.  Pentagon targeted.  Towers fall.  Thousands die.  Terrorists celebrate.  America’s pissed. Find Osama.  Get Sadaam.  “Butcher” toppled.  Hussein nabbed.  Lengthy trial. Eventually hung.  Osama hides.  Inspectors sent. W.M.D.’s disappear.  Troops sent. President determined.  War rages.  Many dying.  Suicide bombers.  Lives lost.  Toll climbs.  Families weep.  No more. Get out!  More troops? ……No way!  Still determined.  Wannabe candidates. Majority party.  Cry foul!  President lied?  Who knows?

     Approval rate dropping.  Red, white, blue.  Colors don’t run?  Where IS Osama?  Democracy in Iraq.  Can it work? Are we dreaming?  Axis of evil.  Iran….our friend?  No, not anymore.  Major world power.  Cut and run?  Hide the flag? Celebrities weigh in.  Opinions like a..holes. Everybody’s got one.

     Voted for, then against.  Pulse of the nation.  Bring our soldiers home.   But what happens after?  Will peace really follow?  Sh-t hits the fan.  Bad guys take control. We say, “Oh,well”.  We run, they win.  What about the oil?