Switches, Silence and Giving Thanks

Should people have directional signals?  As if it would matter, you think.  I get it.  Can’t get people to use turn signals while hurtling down macadam or concrete highways and byways in multi-thousand pound combinations of steel, aluminum, glass and plastic, why would I expect people to indicate direction changes or sudden movements when walking in crowded areas where sudden movements could cause a collision?  Okay that won’t work.  Forget I offered such foolishness.

What about on and off, but mostly off, switches? 

“Okay Nikki, you’re getting dangerously close to contempt of blog with this line of questioning.”

Well, what about the concept of an “off switch”?

“Objection; she’s badgering the reader.”

“They her readers!”

I don’t think remote “off switches” would be objectionable.  You have to utilize discretion when engaging one and only a limited number of times in a twenty-four hour period.

“If you insist on pursuing this line of questioning I want to know why.”

If you want to experience my pain I’m happy to share.  I had one of those weeks; high-pressure meetings that included temper tantrums thrown liberally by people (yes adult people) who should know better.  Throwing objectivity under the fleet of subjectivity busses, they persisted to inflate the flea into a room-filling elephant.  As I brandished a needle and burst one another was inflated.  After an hour I wished for a “meeting off switch”.

Another keen idea would be to sell word quotas prior to the start of a meeting.  Not to dissuade meeting attendance, every meeting invitee is allocated a base number of words.  They can purchase an identical quantity of words five minutes prior to meeting commencement. Can you imagine people’s expressions when their word quota decrements to zero?  Lips moving with no sound.  Frantic, they petition to purchase more words.  Ah, but the cost of incremental words is high, almost exorbitant!  A new control mechanism; just what the meeting organizer ordered!  Oh lest we forget, unused words expire at the end of the meeting.  No roll over words (sorry AT&T). And purchased word quotas can be utilized only during the meeting window, ensuring the meeting begins and ends on time.

Now to determine how to develop and implement.  This will be a billion dollar business!

Yes I know, there is fantasy and then there is reality, banal as it may be.  Let’s get back to the meeting.  Take heart, silver linings do exist.  After vitriol was sprayed liberally over my team but mostly directed at yours truly, I reconvened the kiddies later the same day and found the mood to be more mature.  Hope springs eternal even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

I wish for the odds to be stacked in your favor this weekend and for you to enjoy every moment of the glorious holiday when we remember those who have sacrificed their future so that we may have one.  Some legacies fade.  Let’s not permit the legacy of freedom to go unrecognized.  We owe a debt to those who have gone before, sacrificing life and limb; brave men and women who gave voluntarily and humbly.  No greater gift can be offered than to lay down your life for another. Let us honor them through thankful gestures and respectful actions. Thank you for your service!

Love and hugs, Nikki DeCaro