I have insight, The Situation has abs and a multimillion dollar payday. One of us has got it wrong.Months ago, I wrote glowingly about the Ford Motor Company and their billion dollar earnings in the third quarter of 2009. I also wrote in Go Ford!, that it was clearly the vision and approach of the new CEO, Alan Mulally a stranger to the industry, that was primarily the cause. This past week, I discovered through a series of interesting 'coincidences', that I was right about Ford and Mulally. Yay me! I'm happy to discover that my ability to draw insight from information (courtesy my expensive graduate school edumacation) remains keen and accurate. Too bad about the payday though.
It's great to be proved right. I love it. Who doesn't? Unfortunately, at the same time as my insight about Ford and its leadership were being proven correct, in the news (OK it wasn't real news it was entertainment news, but bear with me), in the 'news' came word that The Situation (aka Mike Sorrentino) is making a cool cinq million this year on his abs, his public appearances and the Jersey Shore. Me? I'm not quite at cinq million. Yet. Maybe insight is NOT the way to multimillion dollar paydays?
I have to wonder, what exactly is it that is valued in this society? Do note of course, that I'm not saying, 'valuable'.
That which is valued in a society, speaks to what makes sense in the general order of things in that society. So when abs are valued over abstract thinking, you have to ask yourself (or at least I have to ask myself), why go to school and get in to debt to gain knowledge which, while possibly valuable, is not necessarily valued? I don't need to be educated to have good abs. I can get those for free. (Incidentally, I do have good abs, but they don't seem to be adding a penny to my current compensation package. Just thought I should toss that in there.)
Take a state like Michigan. There, it seems to me, current unemployment is a function of the historical competition between the valued versus the valuable. Because of the easy availability of manufacturing work in the past, folks left high school and went directly into jobs at the nearest automotive manufacturing plants making $50k - $75k annually with excellent benefits. In the past, those were considered good choices. Higher value was placed on immediate good income over the higher lifetime income possible only after one had endured the delayed gratification a college education requires.
There and elsewhere people chose, and still choose, immediate over delayed gratification. That it seems to me, is because there is higher value placed on $$ in the now, than $$$$ in the tomorrow. Of course now that the economy in general, with the manufacturing sector leading the way, is in a mess we see this choice differently but that's a story for another post. Am I seeing this too simply? Do I see a simple dichotomy of choices where something more complex exists? I don't think so, but others might*.
The President has made efforts to make tertiary education more accessible about which I wrote briefly some months ago. The goal of those efforts is to take some of the financial motive out of the equation when considering whether or not to go to school. Even before this, there were options available here that do not exist in other countries and yet, many do not avail themselves of those opportunities. Why? Because, it seems to me, the media make it abundantly clear that that's not what is valued. What is valued is notoriety (Lindsay Lohan, Snookie, The Situation, Paris (famous for being famous) Hilton) not knowledge.
The problem it would appear, is not access to school places, or access to funds for school, but something else entirely. I haven't quite figured out what to call it but it has something to do with seeking validation from external rather than internal sources. I could be as poor as a church mouse, but once my life of the mind is rolling along, I'm as happy as a clam at high tide on a warm day. But that's just me. Once I can write something of interest and value (even if only to me), my contribution to the universe is done for the moment and all is well with the world. External validation? What's that good for? But that's just me. I am enough. But that's just me. Lights? Cameras? Mugshots? Don't need 'em. I am enough.
And so it goes. I don't know that The Situation or Lindsay Lohan is adding anything to the Universe that is likely to be lasting, but perhaps adding something of lasting value is the least of their concerns. Both of them can go to Coach and buy a $3,000 bag. I cannot.
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* Lest anyone say that it was easy for me, suffice it to say that it was not. I anxiously waited 11 years between degree number 1 and degree number 2 and did a number of crazy things (including running a taxi) to make the resources available to do my second degree. Very hard choices had to be made. Given the opportunity to 'do over', I'd make slightly different choices, but the outcome would probably be the same.
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One of those interesting coincidences I mentioned. Here's CEO Mulally, talking about his leadership style at Ford. Go Ford!!
Mulally insists on truth telling. I LOVE IT!
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2 comments:
Brilliant! Well said. What I can say is that having the likes of Lindsay, Snookie and Paris rammed down my throat makes me thankful and appreciative of my life, my education, where I grew up and how I turned out, warts and all. Because trust me.......looking at them makes me realise that even with the money and fame it could be so much worst!
Mugshot! That's what I'm missing. Seriously, the word says "what profits a person if they gain the world, but lose their soul." Keep developing yourself and your talents as God has endowed. The goal is not to acquire material things, but to have a rich quality of life.
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