Since publishing this web page, I've received about a half-dozen pieces of what could be accurately termed as hate mail. Of those handful of snipers, two were semi-literates and the rest were anything but eloquent. However, *all* have had a common, threadbare and worn out theme. That theme is the hallmark of simple-mindedness found not only in many members of management across corporate America, but is also shared by those in the throes of the ignorance of youth. The former are predictable, the latter are forgivable. Their universal mantra is "If you don't like it, quit!"
To the shallow-thinker, this probably looks like an obvious and incontrovertible piece of wisdom. However, to the genuine thinkers of our time who are not predisposed to knee-jerk reactions to that which they disagree with, even the slightest scrutiny of the aforementioned battle cry of the thinking-impaired quickly reveals truths heartless managers and naive youths never stumble into unless and until it becomes their turn to stroll a mile or so in the shoes of those they so flippantly admonish.
I like to think of myself as a thoughtful individual. Sure, I'm human and prone to mistakes just as any other member of my species is, but I consider myself fortunate in that in my 45 years on this speck of cosmic dust, I've had a chance to sample a wide variety of experiences. One lesson I have come away with through those experiences is that in order to understand something unfamiliar to me, an invaluable tool is developing the ability to draw valid analogies between the familiar and the unfamiliar in order to arrive at what will hopefully be a logical conclusion. Applying that tool of analogy to the "If you don't like it, quit!" anthem we've probably all heard at least once in our lives, has devastating consequences upon the judgement we can make of the minds that move the lips which utter that shopworn cliche.
Think about it for a moment. Doesn't the phrase "If you don't like it , quit!" have a hauntingly familiar ring to it? Does the phrase "America, love it or leave it!" ring any bells? It should! Variations on that theme were the universal slogans of anyone who opposed the peace movement, the civil rights movement, the women's movement and the gay rights movement back in the 60s and 70s. And while I didn't particularly agree with everything all of those movements championed, I would defy anyone to say that America is not a better place for *all* of us to live in today because of each of those movements.
Telling someone to simply quit a job they've invested years of their lives in betrays the same mindset of racists of yesteryear who told blacks to go "back to Africa" if they didn't like the hand America had dealt them, that sexists of yesteryear employed when they said women should be content to remain "barefoot and pregnant," that homophobes were seized by as they literally beat other humans to bloody pulps simply because of their sexual persuasion and impelled the history-impaired to believe that America was in no way wrong in its prosecution of the war in Vietnam. In short, to such small-minded folks, when one encounters injustice, one should tuck one's tail between one's legs and flee to greener pastures.....
Trivializing someone's investment in their job in our society also flies in the face of the very reality of living in this country. Americans invest more time in their jobs than they do in their families, friends, leisure activities and even their very own health! We'll drag our carcasses in to do 8 hours or more of service to our corporate masters with far less than that invested in sleep and physical activities which our very health depends upon. Imagine if we all devoted as much time to our families as we do our jobs!? It's doubtful that the divorce rate would be where it is today if we even devoted half as much time to interacting positively with our mates. There is also little doubt that we'd have a nation of whiz kids if we devoted even a fourth of the time we spend at our jobs talking to our kids and helping them with their schoolwork. Our entire lives revolve around the jobs we do in America. We relegate everything else to secondary status whether we want to face that harsh reality or not. We even draw a large part of our own identity from the jobs we hold. Consciously or subconsciously, we gauge our status and that of others within our society by the positions we occupy in the workplace. While we may valiantly struggle to resist falling prey to such shallow assessments of each other, the very nature of the overwhelming amount of mental stimulus we receive from cradle to grave in this society powerfully indoctrinates and constantly reinforces this kind of thinking among us.
On a personal level, I have more than 10 years of my life invested in FedEx. Add to that the fact that I am 45 years old in a society where age is no longer valued as a source of wisdom and stability. Instead, folks my age are viewed by corporate America as liabilities because of the fact that our bodies are beginning to show the signs of wear the winds of time have wrought upon them. Couple that with increased health care needs as people age and our closer proximity to collection of retirement pensions and corporate America tries to shun us as though we were bearers of plague. Truth be told, if I were a young man, I'd probably stick around a few more years to see if the struggle for unionization at FedEx pays off and if it didn't, I'd probably leave for greener pastures. Unfortunately, at my age, I don't have enough time left to invest another large chunk of my life elsewhere with any real hope of ever earning a retirement pension. This is precisely why most of the people at FedEx who are actively involved in working for unionization are seniority people who have already invested too much time at FedEx and are therefore unwilling to relegate such a sizeable investment to the trash heap and move on.
Corporate America is keenly aware of giving its investors a return on their investment sufficient to encourage them to retain their shares of stock and hopefully buy even more shares. Yet, most investors have nothing beyond a monetary stake in the corporations they invest in. Those of us who actually work within those corporations invest something far more precious than money. We invest huge chunks of the fleeting lives we have on this earth! More than that, in labor intensive jobs like those at FedEx, we often invest our very health! What investment made through a Wall Street brokerage house can match a ripped rotator cup, spinal compression, slipped discs or shot knee joints? What kind of shape will we all be in if we're fortunate enough to make it to retirement age after lifting tons of packages and jumping in and out of trucks thousands upon thousands of times? Yet, there are those of you who can so easily allow "If you don't like it, quit!" to slide off your tongues without regard for the human side of the equation you glibly trivialize....
Losing a job in America is, for many people, one of the most traumatic experiences of our lives. We find ourselves questioning our own self-worth, tearing our families apart, and in some extreme cases, impelled to violence upon ourselves and/or others. Yet, in spite of this kind of common knowledge, there persists a cavalier attitude about jobs amongst some of our species who clearly lack the wisdom to engage their minds before putting their mouths (or keyboards) in motion. Forgive the youthful among them, for they will perhaps be blessed by fortune to someday see the error of their ways. But for those who parrot the "If you don't like it, quit!" pap of fools who are old enough to know better, don't hold your disdain in reserve. They deserve every bit of it!
In keeping with the spirit of this holiday season, I'll end this article by asking those who still might be tempted to repeat the "If you don't like it, quit!" corporate battle hymn to consider the Dickensian nature of such an attitude. Recall, if you will, the segment in "A Christmas Carol" where the ghost of Christmas present admonishes Scrooge for his trivializing his fellow human beings when he asserted that the destitute who would rather die than be condemned to the prisons, work houses and grist mills of the time " had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.' The spirit then said to Scrooge;
`Man,' said the Ghost, `if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die. It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God. to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust.'
The meaning of that passage from Dickens may very well be out of the intellectual reach of some of you who have sent me mail inviting me to quit FedEx. If that's the case, try asking a total stranger to explain it to you, for it is likely that the circles you travel in would be just as intellectually destitute as you.....