Checking In -- Labor Day
I don't write nearly as often as I'd like, so when I do, there is too much to say. I'm still here. And the more I change, the more I stay the same.
I dropped in at a local NATCA meeting the other day. Just to say hello. I missed the fun parts. I'm sure they were talking about convention resolutions -- which was part of the motivation to be there. Unfortunately, I had a meeting just prior to that and it ran long. (An Agriculture - Business meeting. I do change. Life goes on.)
Privatization came up when I wasn't there. I'm sure the NATCA leadership is trying to find their way through the morass of sequestration. Privatization is still wrong for America (in most cases.) In any case, I still think of controllers. I still care. I even think about y'all in the pre-dawn darkness when I wrote this.
(Life in the country: It wouldn't send until I got home with a WiFi connection.)
Anyway, argue with NATCA's leadership. The greed-is-good/privatization/government-is-the-problem era of the United States is ending. It is played out. It is dying. Paul & Co. are good people. Let them know what's on your mind. And then follow their lead. Back them up. Even if your viewpoint loses. That's the way it works in a democracy. Your view cannot prevail in every instance. Nor mine. Not in a democracy. That's when it's tough to believe in the rule of law. But here's what happens when the rule of law does not prevail. (A story sent to me be a fellow controller, by the way.)
Not a Tea Party, a Confederate Party
I bumped into a controller-friend at the store not long ago. He'd quit NATCA. Like most controllers, he wanted to argue about it -- to make his point. I understand. I remember the fury of being a controller. But there is nothing to argue. Not for me. I understand the heat of the moment. I also (now) understand taking a step back and viewing things a bit more dispassionately. Controllers can't always afford to do that. The job requires an intensity that...well...that it requires. It isn't easy to work up that passion and then to let it go. I'm not even sure it's smart. But here's the truth to keep in mind. I'm 55 years old, retired, secure and happy. I've made money. I've saved money. I've bought bonds. I've bought stocks. TSP. IRA. Mutual funds. I've saved. The very best investment I ever made was union dues. Period.
Pay attention: You want the security of a Federal pension. Use your union to get one. For NATCA. For union members. For Americans.
Local issues are small potatoes. NATCA is important. Unions are critical to our well being as a country. History is clear. You can see what we looked like with unions. You can see what we looked like without them. You decide which world you'd rather live in -- which you'd rather have your children inherit.
Moving on to worse things...for some of you, this will be the first time it seems as if the world is falling apart. Ebola. Russia invading Ukraine. Ferguson. ISIS. It has all happened before -- Yellow Fever, Spanish Flu, The Plague. Of course, that's the problem. You never know if you're facing the 1968 riots or the Dark Ages. The world will keep turning.
For me, I'm living the good life. I hope you enjoy the same. If not now, at least one day. I just got back from another rodeo.
I know most of you don't follow me for the photography but I'm changing there too. In a fit of creative desperation (that I learned in ATC) I've started a new series of pictures involving a chair. I won't go on about about it. I've learned that too. Like the lyrics of a song, the important part is that you get to fill in the meaning. It's not important what it means to me. The important part is what it means to you.
You can find the whole series here.
There is so much more to say. But there always is. Be well. Do good. Be thoughtful in whom you allow to have your attention. In today's world, your attention is a precious commodity. There is too much information. There is too little time. Use it wisely. Have a happy Labor Day. You can be proud of your part in it, no matter how small. United, we are so much larger than ourselves.
Don Brown
August 31, 2014
I dropped in at a local NATCA meeting the other day. Just to say hello. I missed the fun parts. I'm sure they were talking about convention resolutions -- which was part of the motivation to be there. Unfortunately, I had a meeting just prior to that and it ran long. (An Agriculture - Business meeting. I do change. Life goes on.)
Privatization came up when I wasn't there. I'm sure the NATCA leadership is trying to find their way through the morass of sequestration. Privatization is still wrong for America (in most cases.) In any case, I still think of controllers. I still care. I even think about y'all in the pre-dawn darkness when I wrote this.
Privatization: Making people believe being a customer is better than being the owner. Making citizens into "customers". #GTF
— Don Brown (@GetTheFlick) August 28, 2014(Life in the country: It wouldn't send until I got home with a WiFi connection.)
Anyway, argue with NATCA's leadership. The greed-is-good/privatization/government-is-the-problem era of the United States is ending. It is played out. It is dying. Paul & Co. are good people. Let them know what's on your mind. And then follow their lead. Back them up. Even if your viewpoint loses. That's the way it works in a democracy. Your view cannot prevail in every instance. Nor mine. Not in a democracy. That's when it's tough to believe in the rule of law. But here's what happens when the rule of law does not prevail. (A story sent to me be a fellow controller, by the way.)
Not a Tea Party, a Confederate Party
I bumped into a controller-friend at the store not long ago. He'd quit NATCA. Like most controllers, he wanted to argue about it -- to make his point. I understand. I remember the fury of being a controller. But there is nothing to argue. Not for me. I understand the heat of the moment. I also (now) understand taking a step back and viewing things a bit more dispassionately. Controllers can't always afford to do that. The job requires an intensity that...well...that it requires. It isn't easy to work up that passion and then to let it go. I'm not even sure it's smart. But here's the truth to keep in mind. I'm 55 years old, retired, secure and happy. I've made money. I've saved money. I've bought bonds. I've bought stocks. TSP. IRA. Mutual funds. I've saved. The very best investment I ever made was union dues. Period.
Pay attention: You want the security of a Federal pension. Use your union to get one. For NATCA. For union members. For Americans.
Local issues are small potatoes. NATCA is important. Unions are critical to our well being as a country. History is clear. You can see what we looked like with unions. You can see what we looked like without them. You decide which world you'd rather live in -- which you'd rather have your children inherit.
Moving on to worse things...for some of you, this will be the first time it seems as if the world is falling apart. Ebola. Russia invading Ukraine. Ferguson. ISIS. It has all happened before -- Yellow Fever, Spanish Flu, The Plague. Of course, that's the problem. You never know if you're facing the 1968 riots or the Dark Ages. The world will keep turning.
For me, I'm living the good life. I hope you enjoy the same. If not now, at least one day. I just got back from another rodeo.
I know most of you don't follow me for the photography but I'm changing there too. In a fit of creative desperation (that I learned in ATC) I've started a new series of pictures involving a chair. I won't go on about about it. I've learned that too. Like the lyrics of a song, the important part is that you get to fill in the meaning. It's not important what it means to me. The important part is what it means to you.
You can find the whole series here.
There is so much more to say. But there always is. Be well. Do good. Be thoughtful in whom you allow to have your attention. In today's world, your attention is a precious commodity. There is too much information. There is too little time. Use it wisely. Have a happy Labor Day. You can be proud of your part in it, no matter how small. United, we are so much larger than ourselves.
Don Brown
August 31, 2014
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