“The Fine Print”, by M.H. Schrader
BEING JOHN GALT
(Written and posted 31 May
2002)
I’m
back!!! After five months with a very bad case of writer’s block, I am
returning in triumph, albeit slightly worse for the wear. After being emotionally and mentally beaten
for the past five months, I finally feel free and invigorated.
You see, I have decided to be John
Galt. Of course, for the 99.99 percent
of you who have no idea what I am talking about, may I suggest you read Ayn
Rand’s fabulous book, Atlas Shrugged.
I think what is remarkable about the book is that it was written in the
early 1950s but is a remarkably accurate prediction of the United States in
2002. Now I don’t want to give the plot
away, but I will say this--in the book, the United States becomes a place where
the creative, the innovative, the efficient, and the productive are penalized
for being creative, innovative, efficient, and productive, and the lazy are
rewarded because it is “the right thing to do.” That is America, 2002.
Don’t think so? First, look to Fort Worth.
The Fort Worth Housing Authority has decided to put those on welfare in
some very luxurious apartments that I cannot afford. That’s right, if you do
nothing but sponge off of the hardworking people you can live in apartments
that the hardworking people cannot afford.
And, when the hardworking people complain, they are beaten with the
clubs of “selfishness” and “bigotry”, and made to be the criminals. That’s rights, the victims become the
criminals, while the criminals, the lazy deadbeats who are sponging off of
everyone else’s labor, are made out to be the victims. I’m sorry, call me any name you want, but it
is patently wrong to allow the sponges to live better than those who support them
through their labor. What is happening
here? What incentive is there to work
hard to better yourself when the government, in all of it stupidity, will
provide everything for you if you do absolutely nothing but sit on your can all
day? This has nothing at all to do with
race, class, bigotry, or anything else--this has to do with allowing people,
no, leeches, to work us to death so they don’t have to. Wake up, America! What if everybody decided to be a sponge?? What would happen to our country?! It would rot and die. (Remember the Soviet Union? The second most powerful nation on earth and
it couldn’t even feed itself! Of
course, it is no more.)
Just imagine if all of the capable
people of our country decided that enough is enough. Like in Network, “I’m mad as he** and I’m not going to take it
anymore!” What would we have left? A nation of looters, of people unable to
come up with a new idea, where “feelings” are more important than ability. You
know something? We are already walking
down that course. Just try to fire
somebody sometime, and see what happens.
I did, and I got fired. You see,
I had an employee who wouldn’t do anything, except to whine about why she
couldn’t do anything. Of course, that
meant that others had to cover for her. I fired her. Within a
week, I was fired, and she had been reassigned. I was to fire her, I was cruel and heartless, I was told. She needed insurance, she needed a job. So that this very lazy employee could keep
her insurance, I lost mine. A contradiction,
you say? No--I deserved it, because of
my heartlessness. Want to hear another
one?
How about this... At another job, I
had a coworker who would sit on the phone all day and not do her job. Because she would not do her job, a few “I”s
did not get dotted; a few “T”s did not get crossed. Needless to say, a project got messed up. I got the blame--I should have been looking
out for her, I should have covered for her.
Fine. The next time, I just did
it all myself so that she would be covered, and everything was fine--or so I
thought. She was offended that I
covered for her--by my actions I was saying she was incompetent. She was!!
But it didn’t matter--her feelings were more important. I had to apologize for covering for her and
getting the job done right.
Ready for one more? In the summer of 1987, my job was to work
alongside paving contractors and inspect their work. For the past fifteen years, I have designed and inspected pavements. I was asked to give some guidance to a
paving contractor pouring a driveway.
Needless to say, the methods and quality were poor. I was told by the people who asked me to be
there that I was too picky and to leave, as the contractor was offended that I
was looking over his shoulder and did not think I was qualified to tell him
what to do--after all, he had seen someone else pour concrete once or twice, so
he was the expert. This is logical,
right? We throw out the person of
ability in favor of the person of no ability so as not to hurt feelings. It doesn’t matter if I was offended or my
feelings were hurt--I deserved it!! How
dare I expect a job to be done correctly--I am just too picky and too hard to
get along with!
These are stories that repeat
themselves every day in this country.
The good are being thrown out for the bad. I have known several engineers that have been driven out of jobs
because they were so good at what they did that they made their coworkers feels
bad about themselves! I knew of one
incompetent engineer who purged all her subordinates of talent and surrounded
herself with those of little talent to make herself look better. Forget about performance--it is feelings
that count.
It has pained me to see people who I
at one time respected throw away all of their values to accept this game. What else is there to do? You can stand and
fight, but in the end you will be beaten down.
When it is one against a million, the odds are against you. Idealism is great, but it is not worth
committing suicide over. I kind of like
the idea of indifference. I,
personally, have decided that I want off of this merry-go-round.
I, for one, take pride in my
work. My work is my legacy. I want my children to be able to look at
something that I have done and say with pride, “My Dad did that.” Does it sound egotistical? You bet it is, and I wouldn’t have it any
other way. I am proud of this
column--that is why I have taken periodic sabbaticals from it. Let’s face it -- most columns these days are
repetitive and stale drivel. Those guys
write because they have to, it’s their job--I write because I want to. And when I feel that my heart isn’t in it,
that it has become a drudgery, I take a break from it. This is my legacy, and I want to make sure
it is a good one, not some run-of-the-mill piece of junk that no one will
remember ten minutes after they have read it.
It is my pride that is allowing me
to walk away from my career. I have
watched too long as my ideas are co-opted and bastardized by others. I have watched too long as incompetent
people are allowed to reaps the fruits of others’ efforts because no one has
the cohunes to say that the emperor is naked.
We reward incompetence with fat juicy contracts because we don’t want to
hurt anybody’s feelings. I say, no
more.
I have decided, that like Mr. Galt, my
mind, my ideas, my efforts, are my property, and that I am not going to waste
my property enriching the stupid and the lazy at my expense. I would rather spend my time doing something
completely mindless than spend one second using my mind, my ability, to help
someone because they feel “entitled” to it.
Life is not an entitlement. I am
not my brother’s keeper, nor is my brother mine. I do not want charity; I want to earn what I have, for then it is
“mine”.
Remember, you reap what you
sow. Don’t give me any of your sorry
excuses, because I don’t care. Don’t
ask me for any more favors, because you might find out that you got what you
paid for--absolutely nothing. To all of
you moochers, looters, and jellyfish, when your world starts crashing around
you, don’t come asking for my help, because I won’t give you any; instead, I
will give you two words of advice--”Toughus Luckus.”