"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a mans character give him power"
Abraham Lincoln
Happy Valentines day! Today I ended a decade of government service, After years of being a government mule for the Federal, State and two local governments I finally got a chance to get out. Now I will say that I got to do some amazing things in those 10 years. I lost count after having planted over 3000 trees in that time. I sowed literally hundreds of thousands of native wildflowers in wetlands and restoration plots. I restored miles of river bank to it's native state, and educated countless folks on the importance of protecting the environment and how our rivers and streams are constantly threatened by pollution from urban runoff. These things will always bring me the satisfaction of knowing I worked hard to make a difference in my local habitat and I truly believe this little part of the world is a bit better off for that.
However in that 10 years I also met some of the most disgusting and truly terrible characters one could ever imagine. I'm not sure how it is that pretty much everyone that ends up in a position of power such as management or as a director of human resources absolutely recinds any sense of empathy or human connection. Its as if to step into a position of power in a local government you must check your character at the door. Now this is a flower bulb blog, but it's also a measure of my character and to that end it's absolutely a diatribe on social justice and anything else I want it to be for that matter. I feel deeply and truly sad for those folks that have checked there character at the door for a fat paycheck. The tax payers and workers absolutely deserve better than you. Mr. Lincoln pointed it out and someone else down the line said this "a true measure of character is determined by how you treat those with less power then yourself". Well in a decade of working in far ranging bureaucracies I found that unfortunately those in power treat those with less power as less than human. You know who you are. Shame on you. History will absolutely remember your character and at some point you will face the truth about how you treated others.
Cheers to getting away from the social inequity of disgusting people and to finding new paths where people treat others with dignity and decency.
Rainy, windy and highs in the 40's
Peace and love to you on this Valentines day!
Mark
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| Chinodoxa 'Valentines Day' A Selection from a garden in Liverpool, made in the 1980s. It's a reliably early flowering selection of C. lucilliae. |
However in that 10 years I also met some of the most disgusting and truly terrible characters one could ever imagine. I'm not sure how it is that pretty much everyone that ends up in a position of power such as management or as a director of human resources absolutely recinds any sense of empathy or human connection. Its as if to step into a position of power in a local government you must check your character at the door. Now this is a flower bulb blog, but it's also a measure of my character and to that end it's absolutely a diatribe on social justice and anything else I want it to be for that matter. I feel deeply and truly sad for those folks that have checked there character at the door for a fat paycheck. The tax payers and workers absolutely deserve better than you. Mr. Lincoln pointed it out and someone else down the line said this "a true measure of character is determined by how you treat those with less power then yourself". Well in a decade of working in far ranging bureaucracies I found that unfortunately those in power treat those with less power as less than human. You know who you are. Shame on you. History will absolutely remember your character and at some point you will face the truth about how you treated others.
Cheers to getting away from the social inequity of disgusting people and to finding new paths where people treat others with dignity and decency.
Rainy, windy and highs in the 40's
Peace and love to you on this Valentines day!
Mark
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