Known and Unknown Gentleman;-) and Learners all,
I am not a doctor. I am not a good doctor, nor a bad doctor. I had one
friend who was a doctor I shared rooms with in Oxford in the 'seventies.
He died young of heart disease by caring for people with too many cares
that made them ill. Many ill people are mentally ill. Many mentally ill
are managers and executives. Very few of these mentally ill people are
creative in a productive way. They are destructively creative in a
grasping way. They surrendered in the face of the army on the other side
of the field. I wanted once to destroy these people just as they were.
Then I had a strange 'turning' on the road to North Moreton and I decided
to kill them differently, through a new becoming called Love (Agape). When
they truly die to that Love they'll become better. Mmmmm. Metanoiaic
moments, slipped glimpses. Well, dear Dr.Deming said that- all people seek
joy in work. Yes, but gentlemen, let us not be so naive as to think that
some do not find great pleasure and attending joy in hurting the futures
of others even if only through the omissions of 'not caring'. Let us not
be that childish. Let us turn the light on. (Plato) Let is help them
become illuminated. Here's how Plato saw it and I wonder...so what has
really changed in these organizations except the faces and names?
ATHENIAN: Hard on the heels of tricks of adulteration I come the practices
of retail trade. First we should give a word of advice on the whole
subject, then lay down legislation for it. The natural function in the
state of retail trading in general is not to do harm but quite the
opposite. When goods of any kind distributed disproportionately and
unequally, anyone who makes the distribution equal and even cannot fail to
do good. It needs to be stated that this redistribution, in which money
too plays an effective role, is precisely the purpose the trade is meant
to serve. Hired labourers, inn-keepers and other workmen of varying
degrees of respectability all perform functions of satisfying the needs of
the community by ensuring an even distribution of goods. Why then is
trading thought be such a low and disreputable occupation? Why has it come
to be so abused? Let's see if we can discover the reason, that we can use
our legislation to reform at any rate some branches of commerce, even if
not the whole institution. 'I looks like an important task that calls for
exceptional resolution
CLEINIAS: How do you mean?
ATHENIAN: My dear Cleinias, only a small part of mankind - a few
highly-educated men of rare natural talent - is able to steel itself to
moderation when assailed by various needs and desires; given the chance to
get a lot of money, it's a rare bird that's sober enough to prefer a
modest competence to wealth. Most people's inclinations are at the
opposite pole and their demands are always violent demands, and they brush
aside the opportunity of modest gain in favour of insatiable profiteering.
That's why all branches of retailing, trade, inn-keeping suffer from abuse
and are extremely unpopular Now here's something I'm determined to
mention, ludicrous though it is; It'll never happen, and Heaven help us if
it did. But just picture to yourselves some eminently virtuous men forced
for a time to go in for inn-keeping or retailing or some similar
occupation, or some eminently virtuous women similarly forced by some
stroke of fate to take up that kind of life. We'd soon realise how
desirable and pleasing each of these trades really is, and if they were
carried on according honest standards we'd value them all as highly as we
do a mother or our nurse. But what happens? A man goes of some remote
point on a road running through the middle of nowhere and sets up his
establishment (seeming) to sell provisions and at he first receives the
weary traveller with welcome, peace and quiet to victims in times of the
violent storm, but instead of treating them as friends and instead of
offering not only refreshment but some gift or token of his good-will he
treats them like so many enemy prisoners that have fallen into their
hands, and holds them up...to ransom...for a monstrously steep and
iniquitous sum. It's these and similar swindles, which are practiced in
all branches of all trades that have given this (and other) occupations
such a bad name. ...
Well, modern friends it continues at length and detail.. but finally it
comes to an end thusly;-)
And.. the ATHENIAN said: Those fine men who safeguard the whole state
either by exploits of valour or my military expertise must be accorded
honour - but the honour of the second rank because the honour of the first
rank should be given first and foremost to those who have proved
conspicuous in respecting the regulations of the good legislator.
(Ordinary longsuffering people;-)
Love and compassioned best wishes to those without pensions,
Andrew Campbell
Oxford, Athens and the World
> I am sorry that I missed the earlier explanation of the difference between
> energy and free energy. However, being involved in the e-business side of
> the oil and gas industry it is my belief that Enron was in the business of
> market-making and they did not play well with others. By this I mean that
> they would create a market in virtually anything and required Enron to hold
> one side of the transaction. They did not create a neutral, third-party
> market. This independence, that bordered on arrogance, also caused their
> downfall because they apparently hid their market positions in off balance
> sheet partnerships.
> However, my bigger concern is the possible impact the Enron problems may
> have on some of the empowerment practices being adopted by others in the
> future. Many articles and books include Enron as an example of employee
> empowerment, especially self-leadership at the grassroots. How can we now
> continue to hold these references out as examples when the Enron name is so
> tarnished? To what extent might these exemplary practices now be tarnished
> by the actions at the top of Enron? Will this make our job of encouraging
> empowerment more difficult by top managers including all Enron practices
> under the same umbrella?
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