Topic: Dailies

Very Best

by

Leo Crocker Rogers

You can look the other way once, and it doesn’t make much difference except that it does make it easier to look the other way again and then again until you believe it is normal. Making wrong things normal is a habit with some.

The simplest example of a learned bad habit is being late. The individuals get away with it once. They knew it robed others of their time, but people were polite, so they did it again. Then again. Now they are always late, and you know, they think it is normal. They do not even apologize; they just walk in late and say, while business has already started, "Hi there. How are things going?" It is normal for them.

Another bad habit is rewriting history which is not only done by historians but also by corporations.

"We can make this effective as of the first of last year." says the well manicured and obviously prosperous lawyer as the summer breeze wafts across the patio signing ceremony.

When such is done for financial gain, there is a problem. Someone, somewhere is getting the short end of the stick. When post-dating is done concerning stock options, it is cheating the shareholders. The SEC is now investigating more than 80 companies concerning their stock-option plans which were back-dated to optimize the gain to the recipient. When back-dating robs the IRS, things get sticky there too.

But then again, you have to be caught.

I can remember when a person that violated moral codes was confronted with the incidents and had confessed, was asked, did you learn anything from these indiscretions, the person’s answer was "Yes. Do not get caught."

So take note. Prosecutions of such white collar cheating are down 28% from 5 years ago. The US government has shifted its resources from protecting stock holders and the federal treasury from cheaters to prosecuting illegal immigrants. Such prosecutions have more than doubled in the same 5 years. Clearly keeping a Mexican immigrant wanting to work his posterior off in the USA to send some money to his family in Mexico is more important than stopping criminals. Yes, there is a social cost to supporting those that do not contribute to our social security system. How does the balance go?

Why is it so difficult to break a bad habit, let go of someone that wants to be let go, to leave a certain place, to change jobs, to look at things spiritually? Our ego. Plain and simple.

Judy Garland took uppers and downers to keep up with the Metro Golden Mayer production schedule. The only time she was rational was on the set. Things got so bad that even on-set-time became unmanageable. Guess what they did to help her? She went to bed at 9:00 p.m. and ate three square meals a day. She recovered and said, "I never felt better." No drug clinic; no psychologist. No special diet. Not even a vacation. Discipline. Simple discipline. Sleep right. Eat right. Live right.

Live right. Now there is a concept.

When someone says to you, "You are not the best person I know for this job." but then adds, "but you are the only one I can trust." You are above the best. You are the very best.