Individuals make the World go round!
Individuals make the World go round!
After cruising the web for a while, I noticed a weblog that had a post about the Electrical Crisis in California. This as given me the boost that I needed to get the ball rolling on this article.
I have for the longest time avocated that there really isn’t anything more important than individuals. Unfortunately, people tend to look at and blame things instead. It is easier for most to look at a Company, an Organization or a Government as an entity, than to come to the realization that these groups are composed of individuals, each which have some impact on the overall policies and agendas that are issued forth by the group.
In the past I had a long conversation/discussion with a person that had a very long standing interest in politics. The conversation reached a stopping point when I made a similar statement to what I did above. I stated that the government at the time had the potential to be radically different if the vast majority of the individuals were replaced with actual morons ( people with extremely subpar mental faculites… say I.Q.’s of 40, or the reasoning of a 3 year old). The other person believed so strongly in the “power” of the group, that they actually believed that the government would continue to function in a manner similar (actually to that person, the same.) to what we are used to today. Now I am using an extreme case to make my point, but you can see the lack of logic in “believing” in the group.
Another case in point, after hanging out in the office of a friend of mine, I noticed a cute little object that meantioned something shocking (at least to me). It said “Teamwork — The ability to forsake individual recognition in lieu of a common team goal. Teamwork not only defines the individual but it also defines the organization”. Now if this by itself doesn’t raise an eyebrowse, then read a bit further along. The first thing that jumps out at me is the part about forsaking the individual. That was a giant stopper for me. I didn’t even care to read the rest… but I did. To forsake… To quit or leave entirely; to desert; to abandon; to depart or withdraw from; to leave, that is something that no individual should tolerate no matter what the purpose. In this case… the individual is forsaken for the common team goal. How did that goal come about? Out of thin air? Did the spirit of “Team” speak to everyone and tell them what their goals are? The answer to all of those questions, is in short… No. In reality, the goals where the work of individuals, that sorted out all the information on a personal basis and came to a mutual understanding of what had to be done. In any group effect their are individuals that contribute more than others, via alot of factors. The factors such as position in the team, knowledge about the particular components that are part of the objectives, the ability to communicate and the willingness to contribute to the planning and management of the goals. As for the second part of the statement, “Teamwork not only defines the individual but it also defines the organization”, that is also shocking. How can a cooperative effort,a definition of teamwork, define the individual. An individual can only be defined by self, their actions, viewpoints and priciples. So I would have rewritten the second sentence as the following… “Any organization is defined by its individual members.”
As you can tell by now… I am always strive to look at anyone I meet as an individual, the only real way a person can be viewed. The organizations a person choices to be a member of is just a reflection of the person’s individual value system in at least one way, shape or form. If the person who is a member, constantly states that they are both a member of an organization and constantly is rallying against that organization, I would say they are doing themselves a great disservice and also a large disservice to other members of the organization. It would be far better for all for that indidvual to form or at least attempt to form an organization that better reflects their own principles and ideals. Stating things in that manner, I am sure most people beiong to and are part of many organizations that do not truely reflect themselves. I too belong in that category and have spent alot of time thinking about the “organizations” that I am a member of. I am not a member of any political party, I do not belong to or a member of any clubs or anything of that nature. I am a “member” of a number of websites… and I am saying member only because of the fact that those websites chose to use that term way too loosely. It should be called an access identity or some other such made up term, but back to the discussion. I am also a member of a couple of organizations due to having a job. I am a member of the firm that pays me. I am also a member of location of which I work. These last two are the hardest ones to deal with in the manner that I have spoke of earlier. Fortunately, I have rather good access to the decision making individuals at my job location, so I do have the opportunity to know who to speak to, to voice my opinions and suggestions. I would find it, and have seen it before, to work for a place were the decision makers are shielded by individuals that use the “all powerful” organization as shield against decision making themeselves. We have all hear it… the excuses… such as “This is the way it is here”, or “Can’t fight City Hall” or even those defeated version “I can’t do anything, I am just one person” or “I don’t have the power to do that, and I don’t know who does…” or “It’s the policy and I can’t do anything about it.” All in all, I a member of a small handful of organizations. Why is that? Well for one, I have yet to find the method in which to form an organization that matches my own principles. Two, most of the organizations out there, seem to have lost their orginal founders goals and principles, have added alot of tangential missions to their cause and have no clear leadership. Number two applies to most, if not all, politically motived organizations and groups. Last but not least, I would rather spend my time supporting and helping other individuals directly.
Now that I have explained, at least in part, what I think of organizations, let’s move on with the California Energy problem and the statements that got me started with this article in the first place. The following quote,
“I love the free market, but I also believe that a government has a responsibility to protect its citizens. If we allow an unchecked market, we allow for extremes: very very rich people and very very poor people. Price ceilings and price floors (such as minimum wage) prevent us from a “survival of the richest” existence. And this is one situation where I think short-term price caps are necessary. At least until we get this mess straightened out. And enough about that!”
, that I read on the website megnut.com, was starting point.
Why? Because of the number of reasons. The first is “a government has a responsibility to protect its citizens”. Can you tell me how the government capping of the electrical power cost in California is part of the responsiblity of the government. It was the governments allowance of the monopolies in the first place that caused this environment to grow in the first place. There is no right to have electricity and the government should be only responsible to protect the rights of the individuals that choose to be part of its influence. The next sentence I also see as a non problem also… “If we allow an unchecked market, we allow for extremes: very very rich people and very very poor people.”. Tell me if this isn’t a “problem” already? We have people such as Warren Buffet and Bill Gates along with those indidviuals that populate the alleyways and sometimes show up at soup kitchens. Isn’t this an extreme, and we do regulate and have regulated a lot of the “market”. The sentence that follows is going along the same path, “Price ceilings and price floors (such as minimum wage) prevent us from a “survival of the richest” existence.” This is not a fact in the least… we do have a “survival of the richest” existence, and there is nothing wrong with having a “rich” life in the least. We should all strive to earn and create as much as we are capable, to have as rich and fulfilling life as we can. Hell, to make it “big” is one of the American “Dreams”. Any person that you would bother to ask, would not care to work for “minimum wage”, having a floor doesn’t make the person any more comfortable in the least. How many people are happy to state… “Gee… I am glad to be working for minimum wage… it is good that someone determined the least that I could make!”. Going in the opposite direction, why should the governement or any other organization place a price ceiling on what any individual or group of indidviduals (an organization) can earn. Would anyone want some government agency sitting in the back of every auction house stopping people from bidding over the “governement” ceiling for an item? The answer is no. Would people want Ebay to impose caps on what any item on its website can be sold for? The answer is no. If you owned stocks, would you want the SEC to cap the maximum price of a stock? No… once again the answer. So in regard to the whole California Energy issue I see a number of things that would not have come to light if the Individual held a higher place than the “Team”, the “Group”, “the Government” or any other organization.
First off, the blame of this issue could be quickly found out and countermeasures to the issues at hand could be worked out much faster. If the individuals that comprise the decision making bodies of the whole California Energy policies were to show what their goals actually are, it would be much easier to work out a policy that benefits individuals to a higher degree. Could this part happen? Not in our current world we live in. The idea that the Power Companies Head personnel stating that their goal was to make as much profit as they could from selling Electricity is something that few could actually understand as the companies true and hopefully only goal. If this was the case, a much better free market system could come to the forefront, one in which the individuals of the state would have all the power to decide how much they were willing to pay for electricity. The idea of the state of California using tax payer money to keep the electrical grid up is out and out theft. If people where not still “shielded”, from the true cost of power in California, there would be no choice but for the market to lower prices. Inidividuals wouldn’t pay for it and would actively seek out alternatives. Think of it this way, if the individuals of California were to actually see the true price for power, some enterprising individuals would start generating and possibly selling their own electricity. Not that that could happen, since you would need the “permission” of the government to sell electricity in the first place. Don’t think it would happen do you, well I do, based on the cost provided in the article that is linked to in the beginning of the post on Megnut, the average price per Megawatt was $278 dollars. This price is high enough that a group of individuals in a neighborhood could purchase a large generator and share the price of fuel, probably saving themselves money in the long run. This kind of enterprising cannot occur due to the “still” artifically low price that the individuals of California are paying for electricity and a political system full of people that are unwilling or incapable of adapting to a rapidly changing environment.
I know I have not fully expressed what I meant by “Individuals are what make the World Go round.”, but I hope that the examples that I have given will help you look out for and recognize the individuals that you are and the ones around you. Don’t settle for that great “Team Award” hanging in the foyer of your organization, that doesn’t even have your name on it. Make sure that you are recognized for all that you do, both good and bad. To be congratulated for the positive and to take action to correct or retify the negative.
Material for this article : The June 14th Post of Megnut’s weblog and the article on the Sacremento Bee’s website.
author- James M Long copyright 2001
