One of the truly annoying factors associated with age discrimination is the amount of sympathy one gets for growing older. People, young and old alike, seem to fall into a range of responses from deniers (“Oh, you can’t be over 60!”) and pacifiers (“Well, you certainly don’t look 65 years old!”) to the sympathizers (“I…
Empathy has been defined as a multi-factor construct that results in an individual’s capacity to understand what another person is experiencing from within the other person’s frame of reference. In common expression, empathy allows us to walk a mile in another’s shoes. Empathy has been studied from many perspectives, including among others: positive psychology, neuropsychology, sociology,…
As I have read, reflected, and written about work this week, I have found both implied and explicit references to work having a prescribed outcome. I agree readily that work produces something; I have said that this gives me a sense of satisfaction. But I still find myself feeling a bit jarred by the notion…
Work is not a curse, but drudgery is. — Henry Ward Beecher The hard, tedious, menial, monotonous work of the rat race – drudgery. Work done by someone in an unimaginative way. Just yesterday I had the opportunity to listen to someone talk about their work. They described a circular ritual of seeing the need…
Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom. — Albert Einstein For me there is something particularly freeing about work that is not a job. When Paul and I bought our house we did so with an eye to having dogs in a fenced yard that…
These past two weeks I have been posting on reconciliation and greed. As I re-read them, I am struck by several editorial items, but mainly these: * My writing style gets too close to sermonizing at times. * There are several points where I cannot find myself in what I have written. * I am…
Profit-based corporations exist to make money for shareholders and to protect individual shareholders from some excessive risk. This sounds and is reasonable at face value. Profit goes to investors. It has a certain simple, elegant logic to it. Those of us who have worked in business at various levels know that profit-based corporations themselves have…
The term greed has historically been used to describe and criticize those who seek excessive material wealth. The word summons images of misers, dusty ballrooms, faded glory, and chests of ill-gotten gold. It brings to mind Botoxed men with neon tans, pool-side with a trophy wife. But these pictures of faded or tacky opulence are…
Sculptures of Justice are historically of a blindfolded female holding scales. We say she is blind. The intent is to show an impartiality in judgment. We want to assert that Justice makes decisions independent of the particulars of a person’s circumstances, appearance, background, or demographics. Greed wants to assert the same thing. Greed spins a…
Greed has generally been considered an excessive desire to get and keep more than one needs. The degree of excess appears to be related to the inability to distinguish wants from needs. On one hand greed may seek to deprive others from basic survival, comfort, and opportunity; conspiracies of world domination come to mind. On the…
Creating Community for Everyone 