R E S P E C T

Dispensing with the last bit of business, the counter is clearly inaccurate, or maybe accurate due to my title "Labor Day 2009". I could see how that could give me a lot of hits, but since only one dear soul commented I am encouraged to seek out the other nine I'd like to view the blog. And, I feel safe again.

That said, let us talk about respect. How about a little respect "for the office?" Isn't that what we heard all through the "Bush" years? And Now? Really? Yelling out at a presidential speech? How incredibly rude. How not American. How rude and British.

I have found that respect is a thing we all look for, but may not earn. One has to EARN respect. One earns respect by doing the work better than anyone else. Treating people better than anyone else. Caring. And then, one has to OWN it. It is hard. It is about taking full responsibility. The lesser will always criticize and argue. The lesser will make excuses. The lesser will blame someone else. The lesser will yell in frustration. The lesser will not get the job next time. (We did it in this last election... though we may need to rethink, at the midterms.)

In Theatre there is something to be said about being a "company member." Working with the whole to create the art. We do this together. We have the same goal. We want it to be right. We have a hierarchy that works most of the time. Maybe government could take a lesson from theatre. Look at what we do. We finally make decisions - on a time table. We care and we perform. We give our constituents, the audience, a complete and well thought-out product. We put our hearts and souls into this. We (mostly) like each other. Learn from us. We do this nightly.