I’ve been on the slow road to this discovery, but I think it’s finally sinking in. There is no They. There’s no shadowy group trying to screw you over. There’s no malevolent hand telling your boss to be an ass. There’s just a bunch of people slogging away at their crappy jobs while you tramp along in yours. Now, there are some evil people in the world who do some rotten things. But, they’re the tiny minority compared to the shmucks and shmoes just trying to get through the day. We are all a part of the “unwashed masses”. Things we do piss people off, and cause them pain, whether we know it or not.
It’s the chaos theory of personal interaction. Something I do at my job could affect some poor bastard in San Francisco without me doing anything on purpose or meaning him any ill will. The jerks who make my job a living hell aren’t doing it on purpose. They’re just trying to do their job. Ok, this isn’t coming out right, but you get the idea. Drop the conspiracy theories – they’re all just doing what they do, like the frog and the scorpion. Sermon is over, soapbox is back in the garage (damn, I wish I had a garage).