A Duty to Work!
09/09/02
Jerry Useem, in last November's issue of Business 2.0, made an observation that is worth remembering this week as we remember 9/11: "If this is the first war of the 21st century, then it was also the first war that was visited on the workplace. Home of the cubicle, the busted toner cartridge, and other 'Dilbert' plot conventions, the American office has long been trivialized as a sanctuary of the petty and banal. On September 11, however, it suddenly became anything but.... It wasn't until the next Monday, when the area around ground zero returned to economic life, that work took on a hue we rarely see. Asked what impelled them to return to the job, people struck a common refrain: A sense of duty. A feeling that, well, they had a job to do, even if their job happened to be margins clerk at the metal futures desk. And the idea, heard especially on Wall Street, that a free market is the basis of a free people: 'The market is better than these people that did this to usÉ.' Just as the rituals of democracy take on renewed meaning when we're under attack, so too do the rituals of capitalism, however, mundane. Behind all seemed to lurk some shared understanding that our work is not only important, but also ultimately the source of American muscleÉ. For a brief moment, the simple act of going to work seemed, somehow heroic."
Some want to have a new holiday to make sure we always remember 9/11. But we have remembered Pearl Harbor as a day that will "live in Infamy" without a holiday to commemorate it. In the same way, many are asking that the land where the Twin Towers stood be set aside as a memorial to those lost. I question that thinking.
Instead of just thinking holidays and memorials that celebrate the lives of those lost, we also need to find ways to recognize and affirm the ideals and values that have been attacked. The terrorists attacked at the heart of American capitalism and commerce. Instead of taking another day off, we need to get back into making the great game of business work! We need to put our principles to work in order to make us and our economy even stronger. It is time for a renewed sense of duty. We need to make sure that with the innovative efforts of our organizations, the efforts of our leaders and our workers, that we enliven the very commerce that was attacked. As the change agents challenged to invent the future, may we take time to remember and to support those who lost so much, but, as important, may we use the memory of those who have fallen as a launching off pad for soaring even higher.
We will never forget. We must never stop making freedom and capitalism work!
MONDAY'S MIRTHFUL MOMENT
Today's mirth comes from Rosalie Hamilton via Dan Poynter--some anonymous observations on life that are worth keeping perspective in a challenging week where humor may be very rare. Take a moment to enjoy and laugh; it will be good for you!
"The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going."
"According to a recent survey, men say the first thing they notice about a woman is their eyes. And women say the first thing they notice about men is they're a bunch of liars."
"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened."
"You read about all these terrorists--most of them came here legally, but they hung around on these expired visas, some for as long as 10-15 years. Now, compare that to Blockbuster; you are two days late with a video and those people are all over you. Let's put Blockbuster in charge of immigration."
When you keep your eyes open for mirth, you just may find it! Hope this kicks off your morning and helps get your mood adjusted for the week. Now, get busy MAKING CHANGE WORK and have some fun along the way!...