PrefaceAnd, not incidentally, relevant to some things to write this weekend, pertaining to DA.
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Have had an old laptop on loan from work for a few years now. All my art is done on an even older machine (but with better monitors, more RAM, more storage), so it's nice to keep all my net and writing functions here, so that tower can remain dedicated to my art. (It needs all the help it can get.)
Besides, I type like the wind on a good Apple laptop. Used to have a really slick one of my own, years ago, but it had to be sold (against my will). Still really miss that one, it typed some of the most momentous emails of my life. It's always felt unjust that I had to part with it.
So, needless to say, this iBook from work is a real asset in my life, a decent substitute. It would, for instance, be a bummer, if ever I quit my job, to lose it.
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Early in 2004, we were given asset spreadsheets, to update the collective database of all our computer inventory. It was already filled out with all the hardware on record, so really all we had to do was confirm which computers were assigned to each of us.
At that time, I had six Macs on my desk at work (a G3, two G4s, two Cubes, and a Snow iMac), plus peripherals. So it wasn't a trivial spreadsheet.
But the iBook wasn't on it.
Furthermore, had noticed in a different record that my iBook had been "lost" there too. As far as my company was concerned, it'd been forgotten. Thus, the new spreadsheet presented an opportunity, to let them forget the iBook "once and for all."
Sweet!
So all I had to do was let them forget about it, by not correcting the omission.
Of course, if somehow, at the bottom of probability, someone thought to ask me about it someday, I could just plead innocent and say, "Oh crap! I spaced completely!" (You know, cause it wasn't on my desk at work, where the spreadsheet was filled out.) It wasn't like there was any danger.
And really, the only people (left in my department) who even remembered its existence were people who simply wouldn't care. They'd know it was an old laptop, of virtually no value to the company at all. I couldn't quite bring it up and ask, but they wouldn't hold a little secret against me, if it ever crossed their mind.
It seemed as if fate was handing me a freebie, a compensation for that laptop that had been taken away from me, if only I'd let it.
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The deadline on the inventory approached, at the end of the week. Knew I had a decision to make, between the easier passive response or taking some action.
On a break, enjoying the springtime outdoors, I reviewed every justification, double-checked every way it might backfire somehow, but kept coming back to a "win" for me in the end.
Until I asked myself the plain question:
"Do I want to steal this laptop?"
That is, I injected an active verb into the equation, to better judge my passive response to the situation.
In which case, the decision was made.
I made sure it was listed in the inventory.
Which means, someday, they'll take it from me, even though it will be virtually worthless to them.
The stupid corporation with their stupid procedures will take it away from me to basically throw it away. An impersonal policy that defies anyone's best interests (espec. mine) because it's a simpler way to operate. Because it's bureaucratically inefficient to be challenged.
But that's beside the point.
It doesn't change the verb.
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None of us are perfect, and I'm certainly no saint.
But if there's one thing I try not to do, it's dodge the plain questions, and excuse away the convenient answers. It's important for me to know better, even when I don't do better.
Because I find when I don't settle for my own excuses or rationalizations, I do the right thing a hell of a lot more often. Regardless if anyone ever notices.
What you'll find is that most people in the world divvy up into one camp or the other pretty cleanly, facing their junctures by one of two primary standards.
Aiming for what's right and good.
Or for what they can get away with.
Devious Comments
That is all
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$lolly defends $spyed's breaking of the rules, and then refuses to discuss it.
"leading and confrontational and has an agenda"
I find personally that people tend to be mix of bad and good myself, most people do tend to be inherently selfish but that's not in itself a bad thing all the time since to help others a person must first ensure that they are cared for themselves; Something I forget on a regular basis, the tales of me running around like a madwoman to help a friend and fainting because I've forgotten to eat in my eagerness to help them are what springs to mind most readily.
Nobody is all bad and nobody is all good in my opinion. There are times in our lives where we lie, cheat, hurt others either deliberately or through simply not thinking; but there are also times in our lives when we rise to the occasion, giving of ourselves without reserve.
It'll be interesting to see where you are going with this preface even though I don't see the world as two camps, more as a collection of people who can choose their actions.
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U CNT GET ENUF SI! Side effects of too much fun with SI include extreme drowsiness
However, since it is an OLD machine. Why not ask someone higher-up if it's possible to maybe, buy it, a little off each pay? might not be worth it, but you'd get to keep it. (and maybe they'll just say, Keep the darn thing, Psh, who knows.
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I need something new.
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Her name was just a broken sound / A stutter step you hear when you're falling down
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U CNT GET ENUF SI! Side effects of too much fun with SI include extreme drowsiness
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~PrettyPrettyUnicorn, ~thisisgalaxy, and I have the SWEETEST BAND EVAR:
[link]
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Once one becomes sensitive to the phenomena, they stand out like neon. By this standard, I stand by my "two camps" theory. Those who second-guess the morality of their instincts, and those who don't.
However, to your point, "who sets the standards" isn't central to my observation, but rather simply having any. I admit that my own standard was unusually high in this case, and I wouldn't judge anyone else for having proceed differently. That wasn't my point. Rather, once I associated the word "steal" with what I was doing, it was out of the question for me.
My point, instead, would have been that convenience is a poor measure of morality. And passivity a dangerous disguise/excuse for actually doing something wrong. How many people have tried to excuse shitty behavior with "it just happened?" when in fact they had every chance to chart a different course?
I saw "it was just happening" in motion, and was proud that I didn't settle for that. Particularly when people, rather than "cold-hearted corporations," are involved, I hope some might recall this perspective, and second-guess themselves.
BTW, you will find this preface almost a non-sequitur in hindsight. But not quite.
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Kinda ridiculous that the bureaucracy would mandate such pettiness, but I know it makes their lives much simpler in the much bigger picture.
I had a totally different issue come up - wanted special permission to bring my camera on campus to shoot some nature behind our building - where I learned that "people don't deserve exceptions," so I knew better than to ask. Rules and procedures are meant to standardize decision-making, not to be challenged.
Not that I'm a believer, mind you.
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Well, I guess all you can do is save and buy your own lappy if you want one! =^ ^=; which would be difficult anyway.
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I need something new.
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