Sick and Tired
How often have you heard someone say they’re “sick and tired” of something? When’s the last time you said that yourself? Thing is, if you’re not really sick then you shouldn’t say that. Sick is a splitting headache, sick is pneumonia, sick is arthritis, sick is cancer; save the term for when it’s appropriate.
Tired sometimes comes from being fed up, and nothing gets me fed up more than politicians who say they have lofty goals but whose actions portray low ethics – they say or promise one thing but then have another agenda that they stick to, no matter what. They all claim to be bi-partisan until they have to stand up and be counted: isn’t that like lying? And then when they finally do come out and say something, it’s absolutely incredible (read: unbelievable). Shouldn’t the people we elect work together to find the best solutions to our problems? Whatever happened to two heads being better than one; whatever happened to the art of compromise; and how come when these seemingly regular people get into public office they turn into partisan and selfish ideologues (or whatever more salacious term you’d choose here)?
When I started my career years ago, a mentor advised me “you can disagree, but don’t be disagreeable”; that taught me the value of thinking about what I really believed in, studying up on those things so I knew all the facts, listening closely to others in case I missed something important, working with others to find the best solutions, and compromising or holding fast when one or the other was the right thing to do. So how is it that the people we elect to represent us either never learned or, worse, forgot these simple ideas; and once elected, turn into something we neither expected nor wanted?
It seems that the partisan politics we’re witnessing is decidedly disrespectful to the history and values of our country and culture. So maybe I am sick and tired of the partisan bull that’s thrown around in lieu of honest, open, transparent and effective discourse? We’ve got serious problems and partisan politics is not going to produce the solutions we need.
As we get ready for the upcoming political conventions and the following presidential election campaign, we should be looking for politicians who are more interested in doing what’s right than rigidly following partisan party lines. Maybe we need to elect people who are committed to not being disagreeable. Maybe we should demand that this be the new standard. And maybe we should not support anyone who won’t make and keep that simple promise.
I wonder how many others are sick and tired of this. Maybe someone should start a Facebook page for people who support this simple concept, and find out!
Tired sometimes comes from being fed up, and nothing gets me fed up more than politicians who say they have lofty goals but whose actions portray low ethics – they say or promise one thing but then have another agenda that they stick to, no matter what. They all claim to be bi-partisan until they have to stand up and be counted: isn’t that like lying? And then when they finally do come out and say something, it’s absolutely incredible (read: unbelievable). Shouldn’t the people we elect work together to find the best solutions to our problems? Whatever happened to two heads being better than one; whatever happened to the art of compromise; and how come when these seemingly regular people get into public office they turn into partisan and selfish ideologues (or whatever more salacious term you’d choose here)?
When I started my career years ago, a mentor advised me “you can disagree, but don’t be disagreeable”; that taught me the value of thinking about what I really believed in, studying up on those things so I knew all the facts, listening closely to others in case I missed something important, working with others to find the best solutions, and compromising or holding fast when one or the other was the right thing to do. So how is it that the people we elect to represent us either never learned or, worse, forgot these simple ideas; and once elected, turn into something we neither expected nor wanted?
It seems that the partisan politics we’re witnessing is decidedly disrespectful to the history and values of our country and culture. So maybe I am sick and tired of the partisan bull that’s thrown around in lieu of honest, open, transparent and effective discourse? We’ve got serious problems and partisan politics is not going to produce the solutions we need.
As we get ready for the upcoming political conventions and the following presidential election campaign, we should be looking for politicians who are more interested in doing what’s right than rigidly following partisan party lines. Maybe we need to elect people who are committed to not being disagreeable. Maybe we should demand that this be the new standard. And maybe we should not support anyone who won’t make and keep that simple promise.
I wonder how many others are sick and tired of this. Maybe someone should start a Facebook page for people who support this simple concept, and find out!
My message this week is about acting and being professional in all aspects of our lives:
“Experts often possess more data than judgment.”
-Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell (born April 5, 1937) is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1987-1993) and the 65th United States Secretary of State (2001-2005).
Professionals are called upon to make decisions all the time. And those decisions need to be both quick and correct. If they’re not, how long do you think others will trust and rely upon them? Of course being a professional doesn’t mean you operate only in the business world – people are expected to act professionally, reliably, reasonably, fairly, ethically, truthfully, kindly, openly and honestly in every aspect of life. That means in your personal life with family and friends, in your community life with other volunteers and committed people, and in your professional life with co-workers and colleagues. And in order to be at the top of your game, you need to rely on all of your senses and all of the information you can gather. Consider this: if you just look at data, you might miss the human element that accompanies everything in life. That’s because people who possess more data than judgment aren’t as good as they need to be to anyone!
Stay Well!
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