12:43 a.m. - 2003-08-14
Music and Morals
I received an e-mail today from one of my web friends - someone I enjoy "talking" with on a semi-regular basis, but who I may never meet in person. To me it is the free exchange of thoughts and ideas that really defines a friendship. Today the email was explaining a project one of his web friends was putting together. It is about the impact a song can have on a person. She's asking people to write about a song that has special meaning to them. He encouraged participation. When I checked out the website, "Pineapple-girl", she was asking participants to pass on the information so that more people can speak their piece. So dear diary here is the link to Music for the Masses, please join in.
And those who were seen dancing
were thought to be insane
by those who could not hear the music.
--Friedrich Nietzsche
I got a call from the recruiter I've been talking with the past couple of months this morning. He noted that even though it was only 8:30 am he was already having a bad reaction to the smoke and pollution in the air downtown. The sky had an outre orangish glow all day. "Have the aliens landed?"
Thick smoke and ash blanketed the city today, even though the forest fire producing it is 125 miles/200 km away. There was a "Last Days of Pompeii" feeling to it - the scent was wood smoke instead of sulphur though. The temperature today was 29 C/ 85 F making the effects all that more pronounced. The weather forecast is for an identical day tomorrow.
Because I live on the edge of the city, at a higher elevation than downtown, and because I kept all our windows and doors closed I didn't experience the same effects as the recruiter until about 2pm. It took about an hour to get the resulting breathing problems under control then even being forwarned. Several highways have had to be closed due to nearly zero visibility at times. Even insects are being observed to be disoriented - so bug specialists say - because they navigate by the sun. Just strange, it is.
The recruiter was responding to an e-mail I'd sent the evening before. It was about what had made me uncomfortable in the interview he had arranged for me. He had asked for feedback right after it, but I was having trouble explaining why I had felt so uncomfortable. Yesterday, one of my e-newsletters contained an article by a Human Resources specialist - In Pursuit of Loyal Employees: Gunderson, Cory Gideon SuperVision - August 8, 2003 - that said all I had felt when asked about the issue of exclusive loyalty being given to the interviewers and the company they represent. The article can be located at hotjobs.com. I also cut and pasted my journal entry about that interview in the e-mail, dear diary. He told me the two ladies were impressed by me, but I don't want to find myself in any of the situations described in the article. What to do?
Loyalty is a difficult word. Why? Ask ten randomly chosen people to describe what it means to them and to give examples. You'll probably get 11 answers. It seems to be a theme running through my days the past couple of weeks. One woman I know, for example, was telling me how she uses it to "gauge someone's character". She illustrated her point by mentioning that she had taken a picture "as evidence" of someone being a "traitor" at a function she had recently attended. She planned to confront them with it in front of witnesses. That photo showed the individual in question standing and talking to a particular politician. Her contention was that the political party they all subscribe to was in the midst of a leadership race and therefore it was taboo to talk to someone who didn't support the same leadership candidate as you or worse yet the candidate themselves. Wouldn't I agree? Well, quite frankly no. Blind adherence to the cult of another person or idea has nothing to do with loyalty as far as I'm concerned I've always connected that behaviour to, oh say, the people who carried out Hitler's agenda or the religious fanatics who are destabilizing so much of our world right now. I also noted that in Calgary, outside some hard core politcos most people would likely interpret the behaviour as trying to decide who to vote for - nothing more or less.
Next up in our new media, our Prime Minister, Jean Chretien has been castigated by certain religious institutions because of some legislation that doesn't jive with their beliefs. The Prime Minister responded that yes he does belong to one faith system, but when he is acting in his role as the leader of the country his role is to represent the best interests of all Canadians - not just those of one or even several different churches. His comment was that if any segment of our population is treated as less than equal to the others then he has failed in his responsibilities to them. Canadians, in polls, agreed with his reaffirmation of the principle of separation of the church and state. Surprisingly, the strongest support for his position on the issue came from the faith group whose leaders have been the most vocal and threatening. His loyalty is to the best interest of the citizens of our country not the religious institutions that some Canadians belong to. He commented that the state of his soul was a private matter between him and his god. Amen. Given the behaviour of those church leaders around rot in their own structures none of them have any authority to cast the first or any stone.
Third example, a group of singers in town for a performance. A while ago they made comments about their own government's choices that were not supportive. They come from one of many countries founded on the principle of free speech and real citizen participation in their own governance. Yet they were were called traitors and deemed pariah for a period of time for exercising that right. They felt they were being loyal by questioning actions they felt were wrong. One of the editorial writers here had a lot to say about that.
Three examples and eight points of view by my count. Now ask 10 peole to define good or God and give examples. How do you discuss such things with people when you don't even hold a common definition? The interviewers and me? Well, if what they mean is blind obedience or exclusivity to them before anyone else - a lot of businesses still demand first call even over family - then I can't work for them. Guess we better hash that out now.
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