The Craigosaurus Rex

“You said it, Chewie. Boy, where'd you dig up that old fossil?”

--Han Solo, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

The other day, a colleague of mine and I were having lunch. This particular individual is a gentleman whom I enjoy speaking with, not only for his intellect but his wit as well, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him.

The conversation turned to recent events in the company’s history and how they were moving to adapt. From there the discussion become one of ethics and values (as it often does when I am conversing with intelligent people), to which I said this:

“America was founded on the principal of ‘rugged individualism.’ That anyone can be anything they want to be, as long as they work hard and make the right decisions. Unfortunately that has evolved to a point where ‘hard work’ and those ‘right decisions’ come at the expense of other people.”

I explained;

“An example; when I was a kid, and someone new moved into the neighborhood, my mom would bake cookies and shove us out the door so that my sister and I could introduce ourselves and welcome the new family to the area. Now, when my wife and I bought our first house, nobody brought cookies. Occasionally someone would walk by and point at the house as if to say ‘Oh look, Maude. Someone bought the ole’ Johnston house.’ But nobody stopped by until we had cause to be in the yard at the same time, or pulling into the driveway at the same time. It may have been a month before we met any of our neighbors.”

I went on:

“We have lost our sense of community to the ‘everyone for themselves,’ mentality. Communities take care of each other, help others when they are low, bring them cookies when they move in. Now we look for ways to improve our own standing, often at the cost of others. Rather than owning up to their mistakes, people look for someone to throw under the bus. We have lost our honor, and we have lost our sense of what is right. We have lost our sense of how we fit into a society, or into a business or into the ‘big picture’ period. Instead of ‘women and children first’ we are all pushing each other out of the way for the last live preserver on the Titanic. 

My friend looked at me and said, “Wow. That is really an antiquated view of things in this day and age. You are kind of a dinosaur.”

We all know what happened to the dinosaurs, right?

To me, we have taken this sense of individualism and brought it full circle. Once this method forged greatness in America. This notion had us revered and respected in the world. We were tenacious, we were tough... We did the right thing because it was the right thing to do, and to hell with the consequences or anyone who thought differently. Somewhere along the line that train go derailed. Now the ‘right thing to do’ is the right thing for us, and ‘to hell with the consequences for anyone who gets in my way.” Here we are again, but instead of “everyone for themselves,” we have contractual loopholes and legalese to take advantage of others weaknesses. 

I understand the warrior’s ethic to win the battle at any cost. But I also know that the warrior’s purpose is to protect, not to steal and pillage, and that the need to ‘win at any cost’ must be for a just and noble cause, rather than for personal gain.

I am a dinosaur.

For if given the choice between injuring someone else for my own gain, and my honor. I will choose my honor.

When we continue to victimize others to support our own social position or lifestyle, when we take the “everyone for themselves” viewpoint...

We are still savages.