Ships and ports in a storm
Right, I need to vent. I have just had a frustrating session with someone who wants results but doesn't want to do the necessary work. In fact, his closing statement actually contained the phrase 'It's not fair', and that's from a grown man (well, he looks like a grown man but fair to say that he could go head to head with the average 10-year-old and win the whingeing game).
I could guess at all sorts of things that might cause someone with more than usual intelligence and talent to let themselves become a whining piece of uselessness but I'm guessing that general lack of spine nicely mixed with media encouragement is right up there.
We hear about strikes - BA, BAA (can't help thinking of black sheep, must stop), yesterday in the Metro it was all about tube strikes. And here's what I thought about as I read that.
In 1971, Ted Heath wanted to shut the Clydebank shipyards. Jimmy Reid stopped him, not by a sit-in (the preferred protest du jour) but by a work-in. And they saved the yards, and 2 of the 3 are still working today. He said at the time, 'From the very depth of my being, I challenge the right of any man or any group of men, in business or in government, to tell a fellow human being that he or she is expendable.'
People say there's not enough work. These are scary times, for sure. But if you can work at anything, do it. Because once you start that energy moving, things will move with you. That's where pride comes in - the right kind that sees work as good for the soul. And it is. And you are never expendable.
