You know me...I'm not afraid to take an unpopular stand, so here we go.
It is no secret that I am a believer in karma. Well, that five letter word has been in my mind over the past couple of days. Be it television, radio, or online, just about every media outlet has been saturated with coverage of the death of Michael Jackson. I saw a distraught fan on television say, "I can't believe he's gone! Why would God take such a talented soul from us so soon?!" Without hesitation, I blurted out, "Karma!"
In my opinion (and MY opinion is the very reason that I have a blog) Michael Jackson was a tremendous talent. He was blessed with the gift of musical communication. There are some folks who can "sing" and some folks who communicate when they deliver songs. MJ's music was delivered in such a fashion that it attracted fans from every corner of society. Those who appreciated his music spanned all strata of people regardless of ethnicity, wealth or religion. He was a true "performer" in that when he developed his stage shows, it was equally important to be visually and musically satisfied. The singing, the dancing, the production...they were all things that you could count on when you bought a ticket to an MJ concert. There can be very little debate that MJ was a very special individual, and that his body housed a unique God-given talent. His body was the vessel chosen to share this talent with the world.
How did he choose to show his appreciation for the gifts that he was given? By taking it into his own hands to alter and carve up the vessel for that talent to look like what he THOUGHT he wanted. I say "thought" because it is very obvious that MJ had more than one plastic surgery, meaning that after the first time, he still wasn't happy with how he looked, so he went back for more. To me it was like he was addressing God by saying, "Ok, so...thanks for that whole talented singer and dancer thing, but you clearly messed up when you made my nose and my chin. Oh, and my skin color? Cmon...what were you thinking?" And finally, God responded by saying, "Oh well, if you're that unhappy with how I've made you, you don't need to be on Earth any longer."
Karma.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
S.H.
I was subjected to a Sexual Harrassment Training class today at work. Let's put aside the fact that I work in an office with only heterosexual males, I went into the training with an open mind. I came away really annoyed at my company's policies regarding SH.
The trainer spent 90% of the time focusing on the male harrassing female scenarios, when it is my belief that a strong woman in a corporate setting is much more dangerous with regard to SH. She knows that in today's society, management is much less likely to believe a woman has harrassed a man, so she could more easily get away with it.
But anyway, there were two examples that specifically frosted my tailfeathers. The trainer said that if an employee came to her and said "I wanted you to be aware that ___ has harrassed me. I don't want you to take any action towards him/her, but I just wanted you to know." In our company, as a manager, she is REQUIRED to file a report against the accused, because she has been made aware of the SH incident. Even if the accuser specifically asks that no action be taken, the manager is not allowed to use personal judgement, and must file a report. That's stupid!
The other example is that we are all "strongly encouraged" to report incidents of SH that we witness, even if it does not involve us directly. WTF?? How can you sufficiently determine if someone else has been harrassed? Suppose you are raised in a rather strict environment were certain touching is inappropriate, and you happened to see one co-worker touch another in a way that YOU feel is inappropriate, but the other two involved have no issue with it at all. How are you going to TELL someone that they are a victim of SH when they don't feel offended??
The final straw, for me, was this lil tidbit. If someone has filed an SH claim against you, you aren't allowed to even say "Why didn't you just come to me and say that you were offended," because our company views that as a potential threat to the accuser. So, to me, that says that instead of talking things out and resolving the matter in a quiet "adult" fashion, your first course of action should be to run like a tattle-tale whenever you see something that might be interpreted as SH. Sheesh!!
The trainer spent 90% of the time focusing on the male harrassing female scenarios, when it is my belief that a strong woman in a corporate setting is much more dangerous with regard to SH. She knows that in today's society, management is much less likely to believe a woman has harrassed a man, so she could more easily get away with it.
But anyway, there were two examples that specifically frosted my tailfeathers. The trainer said that if an employee came to her and said "I wanted you to be aware that ___ has harrassed me. I don't want you to take any action towards him/her, but I just wanted you to know." In our company, as a manager, she is REQUIRED to file a report against the accused, because she has been made aware of the SH incident. Even if the accuser specifically asks that no action be taken, the manager is not allowed to use personal judgement, and must file a report. That's stupid!
The other example is that we are all "strongly encouraged" to report incidents of SH that we witness, even if it does not involve us directly. WTF?? How can you sufficiently determine if someone else has been harrassed? Suppose you are raised in a rather strict environment were certain touching is inappropriate, and you happened to see one co-worker touch another in a way that YOU feel is inappropriate, but the other two involved have no issue with it at all. How are you going to TELL someone that they are a victim of SH when they don't feel offended??
The final straw, for me, was this lil tidbit. If someone has filed an SH claim against you, you aren't allowed to even say "Why didn't you just come to me and say that you were offended," because our company views that as a potential threat to the accuser. So, to me, that says that instead of talking things out and resolving the matter in a quiet "adult" fashion, your first course of action should be to run like a tattle-tale whenever you see something that might be interpreted as SH. Sheesh!!
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