I would like to announce that I have officially been accepted into an elite group of people. Having proven my abilities and my standards of behavior and conduct I have shown my quality and I now take my rightful place beside those with whom I stand. After a lengthy process of application and interviewing, follow up interviews and practical training/skills testing, I have been offered--and have accepted--a place besides those like me. I look forward to this opportunity with mixed feelings. The task will not be easy. It will require a level head, an ability to make snap decisions, and may even result in loosing the respect and good opinions of those I would call my friends. But I will take it with a grain of salt and strive through the hard times with quiet dignity and grace. Proudly, I announce my decision to join forces with The Whistle-blowers.
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My dad often feels like he's the "bad guy". He's the guy who won't put up with the crap and calls people on the cards. He doesn't put up with people breaking the rules and he doesn't tolerate when people bend them either. He doesn't expect too much of anyone. Common courtesy and a shred of human decency is not too much to expect of anyone, regardless of job status, ethnicity, religion, culture, age, or anything else. My dad is a Whistle-blower. And, by some cruel trick of fate, I have also grown up to be a Whistle-blower.
It's a difficult thing: trying to decide whether or not something is wrong enough to call someone out on. It's hard to decide whether or not asking someone to treat you as another human being instead of treating you based on a bias of any kind is worth the fight. Is it worth the trouble? Am I simply behind the times; living by a code of ethics long since forgotten in the dust and sweat and blood of our ancestors? I try not to hold grudges and I like to think that I am always willing to give people a chance to change (after all, I do it for myself often enough). But where do you draw the line between what is tolerable--something petty to turn the other cheek over--and what is inexcusable--the disregard for the life and feelings of another human being? This is the challenge of the Whistle-blowers: asking ourselves in every circumstance whether something is right, and whether it's worth fighting for. We are not "above" anyone else as far as principles, morals, ethics, or character. We just have loud mouths about it.
After today I have realized that my position as a Whistle-blower is going to cost me. And I hate it. I know hate is a strong word, but I am not using it lightly. I hate having to choose between my personal code of ethics or morals, and the friendship or respect of someone else. And, in cases like these, more than anything, I hate causing pain to anyone. I hate burning bridges (though I do like fire) and I hate the contradiction between the pain that I have felt over an incident and the pain I feel after trying to fix it. There is no way to win.
However, my dad has figured out something that I, as a girl and as a youth, have yet to learn. He has learned the power of prevention. Not putting up with crap in the first place is much easier on both levels then trying to fix it once it does happen. I am very emotional and often have a hard time controlling my feelings. Because of this I end up being the victim quite frequently and try to find solace in my efforts to right what has already been wronged. There is a poem called "A Fence or an Ambulance" that's main point captures this idea: "Then an old sage remarked, 'It's a marvel to me, that people give far more attention, to repairing results than to stopping the cause, when they'd much better aim at prevention.'" For those few who may have wondered, this is the reason for my previous entry regarding humor. I have accepted my place as a Whistle-blower, but I do so no longer as a victim. I intend now to defend myself with humor (as I have been doing for years in other matters) and I also intend to defend myself with a spirit of compassion, understanding, and empathy. I do not think I, or anyone is better than any other person. I just think that all of us can be better than we are. I'm starting today.
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"Always do what is right. Because regardless of what happens in life--good or bad--you will know it was the right thing."
"The spirit yields two fruits: the first is to know what to do, the second is the strength to do it."
"He can who thinks he can."
"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road."-Henry Ward Beecher
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Today's Featured Quote:
"Wag more. Bark less." :-)
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