"Tell me I'm not a failure," she said, and I was happy to do so. Hell, I've been fired from more jobs than she's ever held. If she's a failure, then I'm a total disaster.
But that got me to thinking about our definition of 'failure.' Once we let someone else define 'success' for us, we pretty much take their definition of 'failure' along with it. So if we allow The Man to define 'success' for us as material wealth, social prestige or outstanding loyalty to our employers, then 'failure' is bound to be the opposite of those things: home in the wrong neighborhood, generic automobile, low-level job, lack of enthusiasm for the mission statement.
Lack of enthusiasm is my specialty, by the way, and it saddens me there's not more demand for it in corporate America.
Another friend, who occasionally posts here as dzaster, told this story at the Red Cup over the weekend:
There was a servant of the king who lived a comfortable life, surrounded by fine possessions. One day he saw a man eating a bowl of lentils. 'If you'd learn to suck up to the king,' the royal servant said, "you wouldn't have to eat lentils."
"If you'd learn to eat lentils," the man replied, "you wouldn't have to suck up to the king."
2 comments:
Your post about your lack of enthusiasm specialty and dzaster's story associated in my mind with our meme about television and consumerism.
Maybe we could form a corporation with Wall Street backing, an IPO don't you know, called The Thoreau Society. People could call us up and we could talk them out of buying things for a small fee based on how much money they saved by forgoing that gadget.
Our company motto could be: "fahgeddaboudit".
Our Mission Statement: "Nah".
We would only hire the pierced and tattooed with the highest levels of disengagement.
Instead of the Michelin Man, we'd have Mister Slacker.
We'd apply for government grants under one or another of the "green" projects all the politicians say they'll launch. That is, if we could find someone with enough gumption to write a grant request.
JOHN! That is a great idea! Oh my god, I have found my calling! I can talk (nag?) someone out of buying stuff all day long. Really, that is a great idea. People in LA** are stupid enough to pay for that idea. Really, really, really. If you draw up the papers you can have a large part of ownership. I am willing to do this......
**Los Angeles has the 6th biggest economy in the world. Number 6. Someone told me one time that no matter what your idea, as long as it was new, people in LA would at least try it.
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