We The People

It has not typically been my pattern to place the video in front of my rant but this time is different. A very close friend of mine sent this to me a few weeks ago and he and I have been discussing it ever since. It was sent to him by the folks at http://www.theladders.com/. They are a bit of a Monster Dot Com on Roids for lack of a better way to put it as they tend to cater to some of the more higher paying jobs.

Throughout our discussions the main theme from my friend had been that I have missed the point of the video. This criticism comes from my overly sarcastic and cynical response that "yeah yeah this guy was on ESPN last year and what they are neglecting to say in this story is that the team was up by 30 points with 4 minutes left." Hence the 'Chad you're missing the point comment'.

In a way he's correct. While I'm not sure that this vid was the best way to convey the message - it is a bit misleading - the verbiage that theladders folks sent with it was worth revisiting. It's the idea that we tend to attach labels to things unfairly. Worse is that we accept the labels that are assigned to us without question.

By WE whom am I referring to? Who exactly is WE?

WE are white, black, asian, hispanic, indian (both dot and feather), gay, straight, bisexual, male, female, tall, short, skinny, fat, BBW, SWM, SBM, SWF, SBF, or any other acronym that may come to mind.

Unfortunately for the rest of the world these labels are not our defining characteristics. While it may serve as a way for you to help identify with us we are more than this. WE are your lawyers, your accountants, your mail carriers, your waiters and waitresses, your teachers, politicians, and your gas station attendants. WE are the everyday people that make up this planet and so are YOU.

It is quite possible that this was the point that my friend wanted me to grasp. If so I hope he realizes that it wasn't totally lost upon me. More importantly I hope it isn't lost upon you. It is really easy to define someone and pigeon hole them into a safe comfortable category. But by doing so you run the risk of missing out on what makes them special as an individual.

I think that was the point my buddy wanted to convey.

Either that or he wanted to re-emphasize that CBS does a really crappy job of telling a news story. YOU decide.

Oh yeah...and before I forget please sing along with me "In 1787 I'm told our founding fathers all sat down and wrote a list of principles that's known the world around"