February 18, 2004
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The governor is going to tour our company today. We’re a small bunch of mostly techy geeks with a counter culture bent, definitely anti- establishment (left over from the sixties) and we all seem to have authority issues (not so bad unless you happen to be one of the authority figures). The company is thirty years old and I have been involved with the people and business on and off for most of that time. This is me circa 1975.
There is plenty of material in the history of this company for observation, contemplation, and musing about the evolution of groups of people, how much predictability is involved, how well can social deviations survive and/or flourish. The observation of a group of folks who have deep rooted aversion to some of the basic tenets of capitalism yielding, begrudgingly, to the realities of surviving within the system, while still maintaining the mantle of a higher vision, is a fascinating study. It is neither a statement of failure or victory, but is rather a true example of how real change occurs in social order. Instantaneous change of large magnitude will usually result in a resounding snap, with catastrophic results. Gradual bending over time will yield permanent deformation and realignment.
But, enough of that, the subject is beyond the scope of this blog and doing justice to the topic may be beyond the scope of this writer. The particular aspect of this progression that I look forward to observing today is the various ways folk try to appear entirely un-impressed that the governor is coming to tour our little company, myself included (as I recall the strict control I maintained over my facial expression when the announcement was made). There are a few who let their a excitement show, there is the boss who is utterly un-impressed, but knows that we don’t want to screw up and squelch any future possibilities, and there are those who respond with mastered body language, “So?”. I, as usual, fall somewhere in the middle.
So, this morning I dug out the brown suedes and brushed most of the dog hairs of the navy blues, found a tie that I think works, and will make ready for the guv’ner.
Comments (2)
Hey, handsome.
[can I ditto eFairy and still be strictly professional
]
For the record, and your other readers: Mr. Epiphany did himself proud, touring the the guv about without a dog-hair or a hairy liberal thought in evidence.
As to the realities of the system: it's a "join 'em to beat 'em" premise, I think, that most of us agree to, somewhere about the time we have to start supporting a family. We join 'em, we still say subversive things here and there, but we start to temper our words. And then around about middle age, suddenly we're standing there with the guv in a hair-free tie, mouthing platitudes and smiling at the same, returned.
I don't know. Is it all bad, that? Have we all just caved in toward the middle? Or is this merely the approach of a measured wisdom?
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