Saturday, May 15, 2010

Was it really worth it?



Corner Cutters
(by R.P.Edwards)

They cut corners
What a surprise
Dirty doings from shielded eyes
Feigning compliance
When in the light
But bending the rules
When out of sight
But do not fret
Or be dismayed
Corporate beings
Are all this way
Yes, lifeless ledgers
Own their soul
So cutting corners
Is the way…to go.



The West Virginia mine, where twenty-nine lives were needlessly lost, and twenty-nine families were needlessly wounded, and  twenty-nine precious human tendrils that reached out, and back, but now--because of their brutal severing--never forward: the West Virginia mine, or rather, the corporation that owns said hole in the ground, over a four year span prior to the blast this soulless entity had received approximately four hundred citations as to the failure of this coal producer to meet certain safety standards.  And now, with the miners forever underground, the government is investigating to see if there was criminal intent.  Pleeease.

And so, whether it be the rule-bending in the coal mine, the oil rig, in the housing market, on Wall Street, or in all levels of government, we have an abundance of evidence that what the Scripture declares is most certainly true:  “The heart is desperately wicked.”  Thus: laws and rules.  Yes, in order to curb the dark side of man--that which seeks maximum profit with blatant disregard for consequence (human or otherwise)--we place upon ourselves…limits.  But, through my half century of life I’ve seen that the determined profiteer can--like those nighttime scenes of prisoners at a WW II POW camp--they can evade the spotlight as they desperately seek their ends.  And, conversely, I’ve seen internal “rules” bent and nuanced to the point where their monetary “desires”…are also met (and the human cost be damned!)

So, the conclusion:  It starts with the individual.  The self-regulated worker.  The self-regulated supervisor.  The self-regulated manager; one after another up the corporate ladder until the pinnacle is reached.  Yes, an atmosphere, from the bottom up and from the top down where character counts, and conscience is not a thing on the page…but in the heart.  But as for me, I think large Corporations--since they are soulless--ever tend towards evil, therefore we, their stewards, must be all the more vigilant.

 (My apologies to Joni Mitchell)

I’ve looked at rules from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s rule illusions I recall
I really don’t know rules…at all

That’s what I think.  How about you?  Click comments below…and say.

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