Day 298: Life or Death...

As I continue down the corridors of my life I’ve been struck by another bit of life’s truths.  Doesn’t it seem ironic that the decision to place another’s life in harm’s way can be the sole responsibility of ONE person however in the business world when it comes to the expenditure of a moderate sum of money it takes an army of people to come to a consensus?  A young Army captain, after diligent planning, can order his company to take an enemy position with full knowledge and understanding that some of his men will die in the process.  But in big business the number people it takes to approve the spending of funds that are a fraction of what sits in the CEO’s wallet is treated as an event that would change the course of human history.  The reason why is simple.  A mistake in business could result in the loss of our job and that would be unthinkable.  It’s truly a risk no one is willing to accept.  So essentially our jobs are more important than our lives.  Kinda weird but as I think about it losing my job would be much more catastrophic for my family than if I just kicked the bucket.  Other than the initial emotional loss, they would be financially set and able to move on.  No, I’m not suicidal.  Far from it.  I’ve got way too much on my plate to accommodate an untimely death.  I just think it’s weird how skewed our priorities are, at least our priorities as a western culture, have become.  I guess that’s why so many of us feel we are so much more important than we really are.  We treat our professional lives as if it’s a matter of life and death when really it’s not.  It’s just money.  Yes, it would truly suck beyond words to lose a major source of income and lose a standard of living but at least we’d still be living.  At what point did dollars matter more than life?  Remember, you can’t take it with you although the Pharaohs made a good try at it.