Sometimes Change is not a Good Thing
Cultures are changing so quickly today. These transitions allow little time to absorb them which leaves some people behind and prevents younger people from ever learning the lessons of their elders. This is a shame and it makes people less comfortable with each other and themselves, it also prevents us from understanding each other.
There were rules of conduct, established over time, which seem to have been forgotten. One loss to our world is that we no longer allow people to be kind to us. For decades, when a man and a woman walked down the sidewalk, the man always walked along the curb side. This standard was so that the man would take the slightly increased risk of being closer to traffic. It was a kindness, not a statement that one sex was stronger than the other. It’s too bad that this small kindness is no longer widely understood. It was a small thing that showed compassion for your fellow man.
I think another cultural change is that we no longer expect much from each other. Our culture used to expect the very best from each other and we met this challenge. The era of everyone receiving accolades, even for poor performance, has rewarded the lazy and made hard workers bitter. Competition makes us all race to the top, rewarding all participants equally creates a slide towards the bottom.
A strong job market has made us all accept less from each other. There isn’t as much risk of getting fired from a business that can’t find employees so the standard for performance falls. Hard workers burn out when they repeatedly try to take up the slack created by slackers. You are then left with only those low performers who are only slightly better than nothing. Low performance becomes the standard which is followed by decreased expectations.
I do not think the whole world is falling apart, however these examples are symptoms that we need improvement. I do not want to leave you at this level of discontent and fortunately my week ended much better.
I was invited to speak at the annual meeting of the Goodridge Creamery Association. It was an experience that made me feel better in this changing world. The whole idea of representatives of the association gathering and continuing a good tradition of cooperatives was sort of a celebration of self-reliance and cooperation. These are two values that seem to slowly drain from our culture. They were alive and well that day in Goodridge.
It was good to see the simple agenda used to mark their annual meeting. I had been asked to speak that day and it turned out to be more of a nice conversation. I was also pleased to enjoy sandwiches and tuna hotdish with the others in attendance. It was a nice time that made me feel good.
I like change and find new technology exciting. What I do not like are cultural changes made without first discovering the reason for current standards. Unlike many types of technology; morals, standards and accepted behavior often do not improve with repeated change.
