Tomorrow is 11/11/11. Did you know?
“At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, in the year 1918, World War I ended. Celebrated as Armistice Day, it was changed to Veterans Day after World War II. In 1921, President Warren Harding had the remains of an unknown soldier killed in France buried in Arlington Cemetery.” William J. Federer. American Minute
Much has been written and continues to be written about the sacrifice of our veterans. Hats are tipped, audiences applaud, and I’ve even seen an Insurance commercial that tries to increase their positive exposure by saying how they take care of veterans.
I suppose there are a lot of good intentions, but, like you, I know there is an element that is only looking for how they can better their business or give their business an undeserved luster.
I had coffee with a friend a couple of days ago who always drops these little gems that leave me thinking. He said, “Emotions are not relationship.”
You can roll by that the way some drivers roll past stop signs, turn right at traffic signals that say no right turns on red, and speed past you only to hit their brakes,… or you can think about it.
Emotions are not relationship, but how powerful they are indeed, especially in people who pay them no attention. The entities that play on our emotions extend far past mere advertising. They are powerful because even when we know better, we are easily persuaded, easily moved, and easily distracted. How often are we presented with choices that are not necessarily good or bad, but good or better?
I am always hearing or reading about our educational needs; how we need a new tax for this or a new tax for that, and if it doesn’t happen some teachers will be laid off, and our web savvy children will suffer. At the same time I hear that many teachers do not want their pay attached to their ability to teach.
In the public workplace, not government, most businesses demand measurable results. Without measurable results many businesses cease to exist. How does our educational system measure up with other countries? Could it be that simply throwing money at a problem (bailout) is not the answer? Is holding people accountable really going to damage the already mostly medicated, highly stimulated, emotional American psyche?
Will our fragile American psyche ever come to grips with the idea of accountability? If we can, then how about some new taxes to help our veterans and those in the service now? Don’t they need something more tangible then a pat on the back, a hand shake, and a smattering of applause?
Too often we forget without our service men and women there would be no educational system, no occupy Portland and no us, … and a lot of the seven billion people on this planet would be OK with that, after they got the money we wouldn’t use to take care of our service people.
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