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"A
Man's Word Is His Honor"
Sandra Hartle
11/20/2002
These
were the words that I and all my siblings were raised on. I was
told by both my parents that if you give your word or make a promise
to do something you should not let anything interfere with that
promise. One un-kept promise soon leads to another and becomes a
habit. There will always be some excuse not to follow through.
My
parents were raised at a much different time than now, a time where
there was real strife, real poverty, and as they became adults the
country they loved was in the throws of a a dark depression, and the
world was at war. They lived through things we only know about
from hearing their stories. There was no television, few cars,
bread lines, no work and much pain. The one thing the human
animal is not capable is feeling the pain of others. Although we
are able to empathize with others and their situations, it is
impossible for someone to know the pain of someone else's back ache,
their tooth ache or their heart ache. So as time has passed and
moved us away from the time that my parent grew up in we have now
found it easy to be self absorbed, allowing our word to other's to go
unfulfilled more often than not.
We
no longer have the drive our parents had to have a better life for our
children than they had, because they gave us everything. Many of
us lack a vision that can be accomplished, and if we do have a
vision it is more often than not the vision of winning this weeks big
lotto. Few are willing to follow through on their commitments to
others in a time where commitment is a dirty word. We used to
take oaths, that included love, honor, and obey when we married, and
honor and obey when we swore into the service. Do any of us know
what it means to have honor anymore?
I
find the attitudes of the world to be more and more frustrating.
The simple task of grocery shopping has become something that should
include hazardous duty pay, if you are lucky enough to make to the
store parking lot without getting broad-sided or rammed from behind,
then someone will invariably whip into the parking spot that you
waited for patiently while the party leaving loaded their groceries.
Once in the store if you don't end up being knocked over while
reaching for a dozen eggs or bruised from a shopping cart that rams
into you from behind, you may find yourself trapped in an isle too
narrow to pass, when four people decide to stop side by side at either
end of the isle. The clerks may or may not be courteous
when you go to pay for your groceries, and then you find yourself back
in the hostility of the parking lot once more.
But
more than that, in every day life things go undone in every company
across the country. People go to work, go to their desk,
head straight for the men/woman's room, to fix their hair, put on
makeup or whatever, and maybe a 1/2 hour after supposedly starting
their job, they may return to actually look at work for the day.
Then a few minutes later it is time for a smoke break, and since we
can no longer indulge in this habit in the company of others (who
don't smoke) you rush for the elevator wait 5 minutes for a car, go to
the lobby, run out the door smoke 1/4 of that 20 cent cigarette so you
can run back to your desk hoping no one noticed. Sadly you were
gone 25 minutes total, and this happens between 4 and 5 times a
day if not more. Of course there is also coffee break, and
lunch breaks and this also requires good timing to make sure that the
time you have for breaks, does not include the time spent waiting for
elevators, so you keep your watch close to you at all times.
Making sure you do not return a minute too soon.
I
figure by the time all this has taken place during the day, the big
bad employer that is ripping off their employees has maybe had 4 hours
of the 8 hours he is paying you to be productive used properly.
Yet, there you are without honor complaining you are being abused by
the company for profit.
So
you won't think I am only picking on the smoker's I will now
talk about the chatters. Those who stand at the other guys
cubical most of the morning talking about everything they did over the
weekend, not only do they not intend to give their employer 8 hours
but they are going to make sure that the guy they are talking to is
not able to do so either.
We
also have the book readers. This one is one of my favorites,
they bring a book to read during times when it is slow (never heard of
asking for more work), and then wonder why their pay raise was a -.01%
of their gross pay. But the book reader is not to be
outdone by the nail polisher. This one is another of my
favorites, because until the nails are dry they cannot use the phone,
type or open mail. So they sit there blowing on their nails,
with their legs crossed. "Smiling".
I
am glad for the advice my parents gave me, it allowed me to have
regular and substantial pay increases, but beyond that it gives me
satisfaction and an ability to look at myself and say I did what I
said I would do, that is all anyone can ask.
Are
we now living in a world without honor? Sadly I think we are.
Sandra Hartle
Email: sandrahartle@juntosociety.com
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