What My 35 Years of Experience Have Taught Me

CorpGovActivist

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Thu Jan-10-08 12:47 PM
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What My 35 Years of Experience Have Taught Me

As I prepare to shift into a new demographic bracket soon - *sniff* - here are a few lessons I've learned during my first 35 years.

1. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one. For instance, the needs of the many suffering American families outweigh the needs of the few DLC oligarchs. Or the needs of a single overweening candidate's ego.

2. Be who you are, be authentic, and try to be better at it each day. For instance, don't change policy stances on a whim, like a new hair color you might just give a whirl, 'coz progressive policies are harder to grow back than natural roots.

3. Don't act out of expedience; act out of principle. For instance, don't hang out with those who say "triangulate" in anything other than a derisive tone.

4. Collect as much info as you can in the timeframe you have, then act in accordance with your principles. For instance, don't kick the can or move the goalposts on equality issues.

5. Share your toys, especially when you're not using them. For instance, if you have dormant data that could help someone else act in accordance with shared principles, let them play with it, too.

6. Learn how to give and receive a sincere apology (special thanks to my grandmother on this one). A sincere apology does not have the word "if" in it. It has the word "for," instead. For instance, one would not say, "I apologize if my Iraq War vote offended anyone." Rather, one would say, "I apologize for botching my Iraq War vote, for the horrendous consequences it helped bring about for our nation, for the heartache and separations it has caused our military families, for the turmoil it has caused for millions of displaced refugees, and for the deep damage it has done to our standing in the world."

7. Read your horoscope and fortune cookie slips for fun, and learn to distinguish cause and effect from correlations. For instance, if your chief pollster pulls out his Palantir, that's for giggles, not for realsies. "You will be beloved by hundreds of millions, and your lucky number is 360 Electoral Votes," should have you telling your pollster to lay off the Scorpion Bowls.

8. Sometimes, it's better to work at the tactical station, sometimes the captain's chair is where you belong; learn to tell the two situations apart. For instance, if you're a capable and effective Senator, but would hurt downticket races, endanger the next national reapportionment exercise, and endanger the midterm majorities in 2010, become an even more capable and effective Senator, and leave the Oval Office chair to someone better suited to the exigencies of the long-term political calendar.

9. Truly activist wizards always bounce back, and don't need marketing hype to label them as Comeback Kids. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obi_Wan">Exhibit A. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandalf">Exhibit B. If your spellbook includes a Triangulation Incantation, you're more akin to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palpatine">Exhibit C and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saruman">Exhibit D.

10. It doesn't take 35 years to find your voice. It just doesn't. Really. It does not. No, really: it does not.

- Dave

P.S. Find someone who truly loves you for who you are, and love them back with your whole heart and soul.

:hug: