Hard Work & Dedication

Our country was founded through hard work and dedication. What happened to those principles? How do the people that lack those principles manage to flourish, while those that value those principles have so little to show for their effort?

These unprincipled free-loaders are standing on the sidelines watching us work and reaping the rewards just the same. Want proof? Look no further than the corporate world. In the corporate world (at least the corporations that I have first hand knowledge of), people that continually under perform are not handed a pink slip. Instead, they are allowed to continue to under perform. All the while, those that have a work ethic are tasked to do more and more. Not only do we take on those extra tasks, but we do so without a word of protest. Am I missing something? Are these slackers bullet proof? Have they cast some kind of spell over us?

For those that might not know, the corporate world functions on the principle of "the bottom line." CEO's and COO' s, vultures that they are, will do anything necessary to pad the bottom line. Isn't that obvious by the number of jobs going to foreign countries? But, the one thing they will not do is fire those that are not pulling their weight. Why? Who has more impact on the bottom line, than those that are doing the grunt work? I can't think of a better way to improve the bottom line, than trimming the fat.

Why won't they can the dead weight? Because, we are a nation of coddlers. How's that, for the bottom line. That's right, we coddle. How many times do we hear about someone that has been arrested, for driving while intoxicated, four or five times? What about someone that is frequently tardy? If there isn't any serious disciplinary action, isn't that a green light to continue to be late. But wait, the coddling epidemic is not confined to the corporate world. Not by a long shot.

How many campaign promises go unfulfilled? How many corporate bailouts will we have to endure? How long will we continue to allow people to abuse the welfare system? Why is there even a welfare system? We coddle the government and they turn around and coddle us right back. They bailout multi-billion dollar corporations and they offer monthly checks to those that are too lazy or lack the will to work. We, vote them in to office and pay their salaries. Occasionally, we pretend to be tired of being disappointed by our representatives. So, we vote for "change that we can believe in." And, the vicious cycle continues and we continue to give our support voluntarily or involuntarily.

Somewhere along the way, we (those that possess a work ethic) have allowed the free loaders to dictate the rules of the game. We're working hard and I'm not sure that we have anything more to show for it. I'm not suggesting that we join the loafers. I don't follow the "if you can't beat them join them" mantra. Even if we can't beat them, I'm not going to join them. However, I don't think we have attempted to defeat them. Perhaps, the evolution was so slow that we failed to realize it was happening until it was too late. Maybe, we have too many responsibilities to really take the time to try and wrap our heads around the magnitude of the problem. Or, have we subconsciously been towing the company line? Which is, of course, coddling.

I'll wager that we have been subconsciously towing the company line. This phenomena didn't happen over night. We have been conditioned, over the years, to accept business as usual. Just like we have been conditioned to accept politics as usual.

Unfortunately, we cannot rely on upper-management or our elected leaders to resolve this problem. Ultimately, it is going to be up to us to start expecting and demanding more out of our fellow Americans. At the local level, corporate level and the federal and state level. If there is ever going to be any accountability, it will have to begin with us.