Challenge...

I hate money. I really do. I hate what it does to people and how it tears people apart. A reoccurring thought I've been having lately came to me again tonight driving home from work. A fun as it would be to live a life as a free range hippy and experience free love and communal living, it's just not in the cards for me. Not yet at least. The world we live in is driven by money. Money in this definition of mine is the idea of financial and material wealth. It also means leverage to attain certain social status allowing influence of others to be a part of everyday life.

To make a change in the ranks of an organization one would typically join the organization and learn the mechanics of it before even drawing conclusions on how to do it. In fact tonight I was talking to a co-worker about managers that get hired without first working within the company. Typically their views are skewed and the expectations are a little out of hand at times. The idea of promoting within, in any company or organization, seems to be the more functional and acceptable way to maintain integrity.

To make a change in society, (at least in certain realms) you must become one of it. It's the basic idea of say, city council members. They are voted in typically because they are active and understanding people of a community. I shouldn't have to say that it becomes too easy for people in positions of this sort of power to take it too far. It may not be fair to say that council members of a small community are corrupt, but more so the people of larger ones. And positions of governance above and beyond the aforementioned title seem to garner temptations of greed and power to a level that society is struggling with right now.

What we need to make meaningful changes in our world is to find people that can be put in positions of power and governance without ever assuming they are above anyone at all. One of my favorite bosses a long time ago at a country club I worked at said to a group of us one day, "if you need anything at all, even to have dishes washed let me know. I'm not above doing anything because our goal here is to serve the members, not feed my ego." That idea has stuck with me ever since. I can't think of a more practical and motivating way to lead than having that kind of mentality.

I'm still trying to piece together exactly what I want to be doing with myself, though I have a pretty good idea. No matter how far I'm able to go, I want to take with me the idea that I can't make a change in the world I know of (however small that change is) by trying to fight compliance of expectations of the status quo. It's a bit conflicting to say that, but becoming immersed in the life we wish to change is the first step. The second step is busting all preconceptions about how it all should be done. Of course no one is going to listen to a guy like me in a position I am right now. I have to find a way to get to a more influential position before doing what I hope to do.