4 hrs ago·edited 4 hrs agoLiked by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
I regularly see this crap at work. Penny Wise and pound foolish.
They won't buy replacement parts that are relatively cheap.
Or they'll refuse to update to less problematic equipment.
Instead, they wait until the equipment is failing and then act like we suck cause we can't fix it without the parts.
Then, they sign an expensive contract to fix the failing system instead of spending the money before on prevention of failures.
Sigh.....
Like the DOGE government efficiency thing, they'll likely not address the biggest spending in the Pentagon who fails audits over and over. Instead they'll save pennies by screwing over people.
There are so many insightful, funny, and worthy quotes I want to pull out from here. Just when you think Substack has talked about most topics to death, you come across one that has hardly been touched; one that you are writing about so relatably and poignantly.
Btw, I see “trust-fall” and I’m immediately taken back to theatre school and doing those exercises, you know, THOSE exercises where we fall and blindly trust our classmates will catch us- the meaning of trust fall being the opposite of how the world understands that phrase and how you use it here.
Really insightful, Mary. Resonates with me. Maybe even it's the larger challenge in these challenging times. The new earth quickly coming online means a new human with it. We are throwing off so much control, while being used to knowing ourselves as controlled.
Fortunately, as you note, we can feel what we can't see, can't count, and can't believe.
Surely the dismantling of the world - and the normalcy bias that was part of it, must give way to a more expansive understanding, both inside and out. Fear can easily blot out excitement, and these are exciting times.
Ooooh, I want a bright shiny fire engine! Under the Christmas tree, please!
This is so good, Mary. I opened up all my tabs but came back to finish this first because you set me in the right frame of mind to respond elsewhere. Another way I've seen this phrased is that it's easier to lie big than to lie small. We will jump all over the gov't for election fraud but 911 is beyond our ken to think they could be complicit in. It's been shocking to me that people don't see the sky that's in front of them, but how many years did I go without noticing those odd unnatural trails that didn't dissipate?
When we read that quote from Hitler, we're likely to hear it as an instruction manual for propaganda. But that's because we can't comprehend that they could possibly lie to us about the world wars, completely inverting the heroes and villains, good and evil. And that Hitler was talking about what was being done TO Germans, not what he intended to do.
I love your recognition that we're feeling a joy and excitement that's bigger than we know, bigger than we can comprehend, as Kathleen's comment says so eloquently. That means a lot to me in understanding how to go forward.
I had a friend who shared a similar gem, the smaller the 'crumbs', the more the 'birds' fight over them. At the time he was referring to small wage increases within a company.
I was told recently that it's okay that I don't know the plan - how it's going to come about.
Centered and satisfied and happy is my best work. I've found that if I do that, I can simply view everything else with amusement, which I do. This is a great time to be an observer.
Your husband's tale reminded me of something that happened to me when I was about 15 and student council president for my 9th grade class. The woman who served as staff student council adviser and was also my counselor, a wise and weathered woman in her late 50's, was speaking to me when I mentioned my frustration at how to go about making decisions within a body such as the one I was in.
She told me "the best committee is a committee of 3 with 2 of the members absent."
I was stunned in my youthful ignorance, but I've never forgotten that.
I love your counselor's advice, Philip! I was once so frustrated with consensus decision making at the Grange, a volunteer farmer network, that I developed a process called ENABLED. I just found it on an old computer and copied it into a draft. It's an acronym that starts with "Enter the room with respect for each person's integrity and desire to bring about a solution that works for all." But I also notice how words I used then, like stakeholders, have been weaponized and were being used back then to paralyze any progress. It was woke before I had a word for it.
At the meeting that I was to lead and introduce this process, there was a coup of 'who put you in charge?' and it dissolved into bickering about the process of deciding who would lead the meeting. That was when I fully and completely gave up on the Grange, to which I'd devoted many years. Volunteer groups are notorious for people who have a little corner of power, something they don't have in their lives, and they guard it fiercely. It makes corporate hierarchies into a pleasure to deal with by comparison, where competency counts. Give me a committee of 3 with 2 absent any day.
lots ta what yer sayin' here Mary... I see the "overwhelm" so much! fer example when one kiddo in our local homeskool group (sadly jabbed) was dyin' of cancer (a 2nd one sadly just died too this month--yeesh...) the group rallied around the fam--offerin' homecooked meals, help with housework, donations, help with the other kiddos--what ya'd expect, right? An' yet they cannot individually or as a group wrap their minds around the fact that a good portion of the nation got harmed... lotta pro-jabbers (handful not) but try as I might ta warn 'em 'bout the elephant in the room--ta near-beg 'em to look at CHD or at least consider the mass deaths... they just say I'm listenin' to a crazy man whose own fambly disowned 'im. SIGH. I couldn't possibly turn 'em on ta less well-known folks (eg. Dr. Ana Mihalcea who'd be just too too fer 'em) so even given CHD's limitations...an' that he "might" be runnin' this MAHA thang (which I'm gettin' more 'n more worried 'bout given the selections DJT has made includin' the awful Wizard of Oz...)... so I try fer the most robust an' official source an' STILL...
All this ta say folks kin see one child...but they cannot fathom thousands upon thousands nor change direction fer their own fam whom (clearly) they're puttin' at risk... It's just one've many issues (traffickin' is an'nuther) but I see covidCon & jabs an' all that is one big medi-cull fire engine (ambulance?) they "buy" while focusin' on the singular... the child, the gutter, the smaller picture...
These are times've "overwhelm" an' indeed our spirits an' feelin's can soar above it all... but meantimes a lotta small-minded (nay petty) folks are just walkin' around "sore" an' not lookin' up...
I regularly see this crap at work. Penny Wise and pound foolish.
They won't buy replacement parts that are relatively cheap.
Or they'll refuse to update to less problematic equipment.
Instead, they wait until the equipment is failing and then act like we suck cause we can't fix it without the parts.
Then, they sign an expensive contract to fix the failing system instead of spending the money before on prevention of failures.
Sigh.....
Like the DOGE government efficiency thing, they'll likely not address the biggest spending in the Pentagon who fails audits over and over. Instead they'll save pennies by screwing over people.
There are so many insightful, funny, and worthy quotes I want to pull out from here. Just when you think Substack has talked about most topics to death, you come across one that has hardly been touched; one that you are writing about so relatably and poignantly.
Btw, I see “trust-fall” and I’m immediately taken back to theatre school and doing those exercises, you know, THOSE exercises where we fall and blindly trust our classmates will catch us- the meaning of trust fall being the opposite of how the world understands that phrase and how you use it here.
Fantastic piece!!
Really insightful, Mary. Resonates with me. Maybe even it's the larger challenge in these challenging times. The new earth quickly coming online means a new human with it. We are throwing off so much control, while being used to knowing ourselves as controlled.
Fortunately, as you note, we can feel what we can't see, can't count, and can't believe.
Surely the dismantling of the world - and the normalcy bias that was part of it, must give way to a more expansive understanding, both inside and out. Fear can easily blot out excitement, and these are exciting times.
Thanks for this reflection. XOXO
Ooooh, I want a bright shiny fire engine! Under the Christmas tree, please!
This is so good, Mary. I opened up all my tabs but came back to finish this first because you set me in the right frame of mind to respond elsewhere. Another way I've seen this phrased is that it's easier to lie big than to lie small. We will jump all over the gov't for election fraud but 911 is beyond our ken to think they could be complicit in. It's been shocking to me that people don't see the sky that's in front of them, but how many years did I go without noticing those odd unnatural trails that didn't dissipate?
When we read that quote from Hitler, we're likely to hear it as an instruction manual for propaganda. But that's because we can't comprehend that they could possibly lie to us about the world wars, completely inverting the heroes and villains, good and evil. And that Hitler was talking about what was being done TO Germans, not what he intended to do.
I've also talked about The Four Agreements, which came in mighty handy when my daughter almost cut me out of her wedding planning over ugly steak knives: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/the-four-agreements.
I love your recognition that we're feeling a joy and excitement that's bigger than we know, bigger than we can comprehend, as Kathleen's comment says so eloquently. That means a lot to me in understanding how to go forward.
This morning Bohdanna and I went for a walk, and noticed a small thing that's really a big thing - less birds chirping, and certain birds gone.
This is something most don't even notice because they're focused on the small things on TV that are beyond them.
Love your blue-flickering master phrase! Keep on helping us all help ourselves expand - thank you Mary.
👏👏👏 Bravo!
I had a friend who shared a similar gem, the smaller the 'crumbs', the more the 'birds' fight over them. At the time he was referring to small wage increases within a company.
Really, really nice, Mary!
I was told recently that it's okay that I don't know the plan - how it's going to come about.
Centered and satisfied and happy is my best work. I've found that if I do that, I can simply view everything else with amusement, which I do. This is a great time to be an observer.
Your husband's tale reminded me of something that happened to me when I was about 15 and student council president for my 9th grade class. The woman who served as staff student council adviser and was also my counselor, a wise and weathered woman in her late 50's, was speaking to me when I mentioned my frustration at how to go about making decisions within a body such as the one I was in.
She told me "the best committee is a committee of 3 with 2 of the members absent."
I was stunned in my youthful ignorance, but I've never forgotten that.
I love your counselor's advice, Philip! I was once so frustrated with consensus decision making at the Grange, a volunteer farmer network, that I developed a process called ENABLED. I just found it on an old computer and copied it into a draft. It's an acronym that starts with "Enter the room with respect for each person's integrity and desire to bring about a solution that works for all." But I also notice how words I used then, like stakeholders, have been weaponized and were being used back then to paralyze any progress. It was woke before I had a word for it.
At the meeting that I was to lead and introduce this process, there was a coup of 'who put you in charge?' and it dissolved into bickering about the process of deciding who would lead the meeting. That was when I fully and completely gave up on the Grange, to which I'd devoted many years. Volunteer groups are notorious for people who have a little corner of power, something they don't have in their lives, and they guard it fiercely. It makes corporate hierarchies into a pleasure to deal with by comparison, where competency counts. Give me a committee of 3 with 2 absent any day.
There's a related phenomenon called "bike-shedding", aka the Law of Triviality:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality
"The time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum [of money] involved."
lots ta what yer sayin' here Mary... I see the "overwhelm" so much! fer example when one kiddo in our local homeskool group (sadly jabbed) was dyin' of cancer (a 2nd one sadly just died too this month--yeesh...) the group rallied around the fam--offerin' homecooked meals, help with housework, donations, help with the other kiddos--what ya'd expect, right? An' yet they cannot individually or as a group wrap their minds around the fact that a good portion of the nation got harmed... lotta pro-jabbers (handful not) but try as I might ta warn 'em 'bout the elephant in the room--ta near-beg 'em to look at CHD or at least consider the mass deaths... they just say I'm listenin' to a crazy man whose own fambly disowned 'im. SIGH. I couldn't possibly turn 'em on ta less well-known folks (eg. Dr. Ana Mihalcea who'd be just too too fer 'em) so even given CHD's limitations...an' that he "might" be runnin' this MAHA thang (which I'm gettin' more 'n more worried 'bout given the selections DJT has made includin' the awful Wizard of Oz...)... so I try fer the most robust an' official source an' STILL...
All this ta say folks kin see one child...but they cannot fathom thousands upon thousands nor change direction fer their own fam whom (clearly) they're puttin' at risk... It's just one've many issues (traffickin' is an'nuther) but I see covidCon & jabs an' all that is one big medi-cull fire engine (ambulance?) they "buy" while focusin' on the singular... the child, the gutter, the smaller picture...
These are times've "overwhelm" an' indeed our spirits an' feelin's can soar above it all... but meantimes a lotta small-minded (nay petty) folks are just walkin' around "sore" an' not lookin' up...