Normally I am very level-headed and calm, almost to a fault. I basically live my entire life according to the CTFD method (h/t The Daddy Complex). My philosophy on life is generally that things could always be worse and anything bad will always work out and be OK. My wife loves this personality trait and often hopes our daughter will inherit it, and at the same time it drives her crazy.
The few times I get really annoyed often fall under the DYJ category of life. DO YOUR JOB. This usually means literally doing the job you are paid to do, but can apply to any “job”. Parents are “employed” to parent; to teach their children respect and honesty. Students are “employed” to be students; to turn in their work and take responsibility for their grades. Customer service reps (like at Babies R Us) are employed to make our lives easier and help us solve our problems. If everyone just DID THEIR JOB, I think the world would be a much happier place.
But the fact that not everyone can simply do their job, scares me. Right now, my 5-week-old is “employed” to eat, sleep, and poop. I would say she has mastered 2 of the 3 (I’ve heard the sleep one takes a while). But how do I prepare her for the rest of world that is full of folks that simply can’t (or won’t) do their job?
I was prompted to write this given the apparent debacle that is heathcare.gov. If you haven’t heard about it, just turn on the TV and some media outlet will likely be talking about it. Ok, so the website is screwed up. Amidst all the noise regarding the congressional hearing and figuring out who to blame, a recent CNN opinion piece put it all into perspective. And I too deal with website issues, so I can relate on a practical level. But it simply boils down to the fact that some people didn’t do their job correctly. Why waste our already overloaded psyche with incessant gibberish and worthless infighting? That doesn’t fix the problem. Putting “the person in charge” on the stand and asking, “What happened?” doesn’t solve the problem. (And quite frankly, the problem was probably caused by some of the folks asking the questions, or their friends.)
I usually don’t talk politics because I don’t follow them well enough to talk about them. But it is plain to see that from a 35,000 foot perspective it appears that our current government just isn’t doing its job. Recently it seems that all anyone can do is bicker, whine, grandstand, filibuster, have another hearing, or try to pass their own pork.
As a new dad, I worry that by the time my daughter can vote, the country will still be heavily divided on essential human services (ie. healthcare), the rights of women (ie. abortion), or the futures of millions (ie. immigration). Do we really have time to incessantly grill someone about a broken website that we know is broken and that is already getting fixed? Everyone needs to just do their job, and do it well. Then let’s see what happens.
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