Labor Day 2020

It may seem like an oxymoron, but Labor Day 2020 remains a vital foundation to America. It celebrates what society achieved in workplace fairness. Reasonable working hours, conditions, safety and compensation are all documentable outcomes from the labor movement. And we all benefited. Every one of us.

Before the labor movement, child labor was common. Death and disfigurement were common. Six and seven day work weeks were common. Worker benefits were few and far between if any at all.

Making a living was working to survive. That was it.

Dark, dirty, hideous working conditions clouded the body, mind and soul of each worker. Very grim reality.

Those dark days have been throttled back to 8 hour-work days or less, 5 day work weeks, paid vacation and sick leave benefits, life and health insurance, disability benefits and retirement benefits. Commit your life and creativity to a job and a fair and just reward was yours.

We have labor unions to thank for all of these features of modern employment.

Time, talent and effort is what the worker brings to the job. If it is worthy, it earns not just financial benefits, but life quality as well. In this work environment careers take root. Further commitment adds professionalism to the career and larger rewards.

Security, health, longevity and bright vistas ought to be the end result. What these mean to a worker is one thing; what this means to his or her family is much more.

Taken together all of this has built families, neighborhoods, communities, towns and cities. Indeed, it has built nations. Social institutions – schools, churches, research universities, industry, libraries, parks and so much more – grew in scope and vitality. A nation’s reach is the result of her people working together.

Taking these things for granted threatens to lose these benefits. Owners of companies and ‘institutions’ may claim more authority over the lives of their workers. Benefits can and will disappear. They already are on the wane. Disability benefits are hard to get and stingily provided. Retirement programs are quickly disappearing. Educational benefits are held back more and more. Healthcare insurance is disappearing. Vacation and sick leave benefits are being trimmed.

And, we all know what has happened to fair and just compensation. Disparity of women’s pay is an ugly reality; improving, slipping, still an American embarrassment. Stagnant growth in compensation has been an ever present reality for 20 years or more.

Yes, the labor movement – union or not – has challenges ahead. We have challenges ahead.

Labor Day 2020 is as important today than ever before. Take your eyes from this issue and you will soon feel the pain. Perhaps you already have?

Celebrate today those who fought for what we have today. Commit today to continue to fight for fairness and justice in the American workspace. We will all get that which we work for.

September 7, 2020 

Zoom Buddies

When COVID began I was reluctant to use Zoom gatherings. My volunteer life, however, was socially distanced and required frequent gathering and meetings.  So, we all jumped in and used Zoom.

First was SCORE. Meeting with clients electronically yet with live video eased the sense of distance. Faces and names were put together. Soon we were talking freely and naturally. Phone calls and emails followed rapidly as well to document what we had agreed upon. We discussed issues and problems and resolved them quickly. Tougher problems required more Zoom meetings where documents could be shared on screen with the participants. Demonstrations could also be made. Work was progressing. We had Zoom to thank for that.

Church work involved at least three committees. We quickly adopted Zoom for that function. Each committee was radically different from each other but Zoom worked in all three. Eventually a comfort level formed naturally.

Our Writers' Connection group meets with Zoom, too. Works very well.

Another volunteer association meets weekly with 15 to 28 participants. We learned how to share our voices without creating electronic chaos. That application works quite well.

Eventually we also learned we didn’t have to dress differently, allow time to drive to a meeting site, or support the expense of that activity. All we had to do was sign in at the same time on the computer. It could not have been easier.

Now Zoom is a common element of my life. We have even done family gatherings. Our weekly church services are streamed live over Facebook once we plan the services by way of a Zoom meeting.

Zoom has allowed us to socially distance from others, safeguard our health from COVID, and still remain an active part of the many communities that comprise our daily lives. It is all good. Very good indeed.

Thanks Zoom.

September 6, 2020

Violence by Whom?

Conveniently both trump and Rand Paul blame leftists and democrats for the violence in Kenosha. Probably Portland, too. While we are at it, how about all the rest of the violence across the nation since George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police?

No facts exist to build a convincing case, let alone a successful court case, that democrats or liberals are causing or doing the violence.

Most likely the opposite is true. Who benefits the most from civil unrest? Well, conservatives, republicans, trump and Rand himself. Never their problem is it? It always belongs to someone else. The always anonymous ‘’they.’

No. Violence comes from several sources, all of which have been foretold by centrists and liberals in our society. Justice, fairness and lack of racism is the salve that will calm an upset populace. Fan the flames of the opposite and watch who lifts their arms high, usually armed with guns, to ‘protect’ themselves from that which they started.

The pattern is classic history. Start civil unrest, fan it, keep it going until it spills over. In this day and age, especially during a touchy election, the boiling point for spillover is quite low. It is easy to cast blame in such chaos. I’m not such a sucker to accept just any old explanation. I look for motive and credibility.

The white house occupant has none of that credibility. So, my conclusion is easy. Best if I simply ignore him. We mute his utterances on the news. Have for months.

Violent people have complex reasons for what they do. They are clearly not Black Lives Matter folks. Violence is their enemy. It is not them.

So who else? Who is trying to make this a wedge issue for this election. Why none other than DT.

And his cronies and supporters.

September 5, 2020

More Next Things

Following a dream or passion may lead to a new business or formation of a nonprofit. We talked about that yesterday. Next things embrace other possibilities as well.

Those possibilities begin in knowing your own mind and emotions. I call that an interest with a passion. These are meaningful cores in each of our lives that give us dimension as human beings.

For example, music may turn your head. It may even be a thread throughout your entire life. You responded to sounds that melded into structured tones which became meaningful to you. Chords, theme lines and rhythms followed. Then lyrics, perhaps. Songs, ballads, or instrumentals only. Perhaps a symphony or sonata? Or a choral piece?

I know one young man who loved guitars. The sound from guitars awed him. Making those sounds lured him into a world of special significance. Making music was one thing, but knowing the instrument became even more of a passion. Soon he was collecting guitars; improving or repairing them. Then one day he made one from scratch. Then another one. Soon he was collecting, rehabbing and building guitars. The passion was allowed to exist; both he and his family allowed this to happen. 

The rest he did himself. Does he make a living doing this? No. it is a well paid avocation, however, and his collection is worth a bunch of money. That, however, is not the objective. No, the music and the instrument of that music is the passion. Along the way he has shared that passion with others and their musical education has begun and is now growing. Where those folks end up with their own passion is not part of our story here; but it is certainly a great result.

Being a survivor of spousal abuse – violence, sexual and/or power – taught the victim what to do to survive. Passing that knowledge on to others to help them survive even faster or better becomes a passion for some. A nonprofit can be formed to address just that. avocation or vocation, the nonprofit allows the passion to be addressed.

Inventing a product or service that fills a void in the marketplace is another gift to fuel a passion. Giving it air may deliver the new to market. A small business may be the implement of choice. Or a patent or copyright. All of these are saleable. They have value. But the passion is the fuel that makes it happen.

Passion is the Next Thing.

Allowing the passion to grow is critical. We have this within. For it to live and prosper, we must allow it space, air, light to develop.

America has a gift for this. It is part of our social genius and creates meaningful lives, commerce, industry and charity. These are the building blocks of community. It starts with the individual. It is fed by personal freedom.

The rest is up to the person. And passion.

September 4, 2020

Next Things

Yesterday’s post dealt with stories, each of our stories. What goes into those stories is up to us.

That’s where Next Things enters the picture.

Your interests, if allowed, can grow into passions. Those passions, if allowed, can grow into a life-calling. A avocation for sure, but maybe even a career. Interested in photography? Of what subject matter? Of which message projection? For what purpose? If talent couples with passion, you likely have a career to build in photography.

Same with woodworking, arts and crafts that can be expanded in production and distribution. Maybe even an industry can be birthed? By you? Think how Bezos wondered how retail sales could be transformed by computer networking over the internet? He did it with new books. He figured out how to apply the known technology to the transactional art of buying and selling books. At first he inventories books, but later learned he could handle the sales transaction but ask the publisher to mail or distribute the book directly to the customer.

Amazon soon after figured how to network the sale and distribution of used books; he created an entirely new market for this material that benefited everyone interested in printed material. And the buyer and seller handled the transaction once the exchange of value was handled by Amazon via computer.

Soon thereafter other products were added to Amazon’s methodology and the rest is history. The middle man was cut out – the independent or chain retail outlet (stores). The world has been revolutionized by that. Bezos is now worth more than $200 billion. He was first in line with his idea and has reaped the financial rewards.

For most of us, a big payday is not of interest. A livable income is, naturally, but that is not the prime objective. Doing something with an idea or personal passion is the focus of most of us. Being a success at that is the real achievement.

Making that happen is easier than most people think. Forming a small business to manage delivery of the passion is easy. Building scope of operation takes more work. Managing marketing and distribution adds to the effort. Often, however, starting small is the first step in building a larger operation that later grows or bought and merged by a larger company. A role in that company is often assured. Both the passion and financial security is acquired.

Some businesses are not for profit; they are distributors of services that support and empower the lives of others in need. We call these nonprofits. The beneficiaries are not paying for the services at all or in total. Other agencies, organizations, foundations and donors provide the financial support to make the nonprofit function. The passion carrier – founder of the nonprofit – thus fulfills his/her passion while maybe earning a living doing it. Creating the nonprofit at its earliest stage is easy. What comes afterward takes effort and dedication. It is possible and very rewarding to the soul.

Next Things involves allowing yourself to dream the big dream. One day you can fulfill it. There are organizations and mentors available to help you. For free. Just ask. SCORE.org is a good place to start seeking such help.

I know. I’m one of those volunteers in SCORE. But other organizations exist as well.

If you have a dream, give yourself permission to empower that dream into a much larger reality.

September 3, 2020

Stories

Reading. Learning about other things. knowing more. Piecing things together. Better understanding of what’s happening and what it portends for the future. Ideas. Feelings. Events. Unfolding story of each of us.

The story. Telling how a life began and ended and what occurred in between. The beginning and ending is not as important as the tale between. We each have a tale. Others tell it to others. Writers record it for others to read, digest.

The story. Humans need a story. Why?

Is this how we come to know ourselves? Through the experience of others? Comparison of our experience with that of a fellow human being? What attracts us to story?

A TV program has a beginning and ending with content in between. It tells us something about the action writers intend us to witness. If it is a murder mystery, or a police show, we see the disruption of normal lives, the aftermath, then the effort spent to find who or what is responsible. Find the solution to the problem or the suspect who did it. And then the closure. A case solved. We rest easy.

The cycle is complete. Tied up in a simple package. It reflects the upsetness in our lives and yet a handy, neat resolution. We need that. we yearn for it.

Plot twists play with our sense of order. We dislike the unforeseen twist of plot. Or worse, the case not solved, left open to yawn its ignorance for weeks, months or years. Unsolved cases indeed. They are the story of our lives.

Between beginning and ending is the grist of life. Context frames its progress. Wants and expectations shape its content. Behavior’s will impacts what actually happens, our response to such.

How did he or she fare? Or they? What about we, me?

And so, we listen and observe. We compare to learn  how this relates.

Best if we don't copy the tale as our own. Better if we invent our own path. Our own story.

September 2, 2020

Cool It

The temper of the times is hot. Anger at hand – ready to spit venom at will. Strike fast. Hit with shock. Tell the bastard(s) what you think. Don’t let them get away with their views. Maybe even spit at them?

Recoil? Gut wrenched? Blood pressure rising? Cool fear, disgust emerging?

Stop. Take a deep breath. Smell fresh air. Exhale. Feel the tension ebb. Do it again. And again.

In the moment of calm that follows, think of glassy waters at a favorite lake, ocean bay or even a spare tarn. Think those images. The calm. The rest. Ease. Tension melting away. Blood pressure falling. Breathe slowly. Smell again the fresh and clean air.

Move away from disturbing images of TV, computer, Twitter, Facebook and all the rest. Know that you are not alone. You are OK. Others are OK. Everyone is not making trouble, agitating. Many are doing their jobs – cooking, serving, studying, learning, reading, writing, calculating, testing theories, doing lab work, providing medical care, painting a house, repairing a broken step, building a new house.

The activities of everyday people. Doing for self and others. Living life one day at a time.

This too shall pass. And it will.

Family is family. Neighborhood is home. Town is community. Church is church. School is school. We are the us in community. We are OK. Life goes on. With purpose. And value.

November will come. Elections will happen. Results will be announced the next day or week. Winners and losers tallied. Transfer of office, authority and power will slide seamlessly from one to another. Life goes on.

Thanksgiving will arrive as it always has. So too Christmas, New Years and winter’s awful weather. Then spring. Life renews.

Some will survive, some won’t. Life’s cycle continues as day follows night.

You’ve heard these words before. Know them. Feel their rhythm. It sustains us.

September 1, 2020