Rules, rules and more rules

I don’t mean to get political, but it seems to me we make too many rules, have too many regulations, and too much unnecessary red tape – almost everywhere.  Let me give you some recent examples that have nothing to do with politics per se.

·       I sit on a board of 7 members.  Our leadership insists the secretary take an oral role call at meetings.  She can see us and we can see each other.  When I suggested it was not necessary in so small a group, I was shot down.  We also need to formally vote on unimportant items instead of just having a consensus.

·       One of the organizations I belong to is holding its annual auction fundraiser. There are so many rules all starting with “this is the way we do it because this is the way we have always done it”.   We are a group of about 35 people.  We all know each other.  Yet, there is a rule that items cannot be counted in the tally until they are in the hands of the assigned committee member.  This means that when you say you have something in your hand and will bring it to the next meeting, you are told it will not go into the tally because it’s not physically there yet.  When I asked about trust, I was told that sometime in the distant past, someone said they had something, but didn’t.  So we are all distrusted – a rule is made because of one irresponsible person.

When I streamline systems for my larger clients (big companies – government agencies) I often find that a rule has been made – which often winds up costing more than it is attempting to save – because once someone fraudulently took advantage of their position and stole something, or spent something they shouldn’t have spent.  In other words, make a whole procedure costing lots of money to prevent the loss of some pennies.

Watching “Blue Bloods” on TV Friday night reminded me of all the “zero tolerance” rules in schools.  Do you remember:

·       A kindergarten boy was suspended because he kissed a little girl on the cheek – this was considered sexual harassment (yes, I don’t make these things up!)

·       A young boy was suspended – or expelled (I don’t remember which) because he accidently took his mother’s lunch bag instead of his own and she had an apple and paring knife in her bag.  The fact that the mother immediately recognized the accident and called the school to tell them the details didn’t change their decision.  Off with his head (said the Witch in Alice in Wonderland.)

Have we become so intolerant we can’t handle accidents?  “Oops, it was an accident, sorry – won’t do it again.”  If said genuinely, why isn’t that enough?

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.  It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.
Mahatma Gandhi

Have we become so fearful of the crooks that we spend thousands of dollars and countless unnecessary time plugging up the imaginary holes?  OK – I am not suggesting we throw caution to the winds.  I am perfectly content with all those cameras – they found the bombers, didn’t they?

I love streamlining systems for my clients – I work with them – not at them – and together we find ways to make things far more effective and efficient without losing any safety or security.  Oftentimes the K.I.S.S. method works best.

Rules, rules, rules

Rules, rules and more rules

I don’t mean to get political, but it seems to me we make too many rules, have too many regulations, and too much unnecessary red tape – almost everywhere.  Let me give you some recent examples that have nothing to do with politics per se.

·       I sit on a board of 7 members.  Our leadership insists the secretary take an oral role call at meetings.  She can see us and we can see each other.  When I suggested it was not necessary in so small a group, I was shot down.  We also need to formally vote on unimportant items instead of just having a consensus.

·       One of the organizations I belong to is holding its annual auction fundraiser. There are so many rules all starting with “this is the way we do it because this is the way we have always done it”.   We are a group of about 35 people.  We all know each other.  Yet, there is a rule that items cannot be counted in the tally until they are in the hands of the assigned committee member.  This means that when you say you have something in your hand and will bring it to the next meeting, you are told it will not go into the tally because it’s not physically there yet.  When I asked about trust, I was told that sometime in the distant past, someone said they had something, but didn’t.  So we are all distrusted – a rule is made because of one irresponsible person.

When I streamline systems for my larger clients (big companies – government agencies) I often find that a rule has been made – which often winds up costing more than it is attempting to save – because once someone fraudulently took advantage of their position and stole something, or spent something they shouldn’t have spent.  In other words, make a whole procedure costing lots of money to prevent the loss of some pennies.

Watching “Blue Bloods” on TV Friday night reminded me of all the “zero tolerance” rules in schools.  Do you remember:

• ·       A kindergarten boy was suspended because he kissed a little girl on the cheek – this was considered sexual harassment (yes, I don’t make these things up!)
• ·       A young boy was suspended – or expelled (I don’t remember which) because he accidently took his mother’s lunch bag instead of his own and she had an apple and paring knife in her bag.  The fact that the mother immediately recognized the accident and called the school to tell them the details didn’t change their decision.  Off with his head (said the Witch in Alice in Wonderland.)

Have we become so intolerant we can’t handle accidents?  “Oops, it was an accident, sorry – won’t do it again.”  If said genuinely, why isn’t that enough?

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.  It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.
Mahatma Gandhi

Have we become so fearful of the crooks that we spend thousands of dollars and countless unnecessary time plugging up the imaginary holes?  OK – I am not suggesting we throw caution to the winds.  I am perfectly content with all those cameras – they found the bombers, didn’t they?

I love streamlining systems for my clients – I work with them – not at them – and together we find ways to make things far more effective and efficient without losing any safety or security.  Oftentimes the K.I.S.S. method works best.

Freedom to be What I want to be

In today's San Jose Mercury, Patty Fisher commented about women's cheerleading wanting to be considered a sport, which would allow it to have all the perqs other sports get. She made the comment that feminists would not appreciate having this as a sport.

It reminded me of one of my gripes about militant feminism going too far. If you recall, words with female endings "ette" or actress (instead of actor), etc., were all banned from usage. Typically female activiites such as sewing and cooking were frowned upon by the more militant feminists. Instead of elevating women - in my opinion to not only demeaned them, but forced them to live a half life - to become androgynous whether they wanted to or not.

Of course similar cuts were made to men as well - anything overtly masculine - such as strength and aggression were seen as boorish and rude. Why was androgyny to be the only model left to us?

I would like to see us create a culture in which the freedom to be whereever on the contimuum between typically feminine and typically masculine is honored. This allows for "girly-girls" as well as "manly-men" and everything in between. It allows for those women who want to be seen as more "butch" to do so, and for those men wanting to be "metro-sexual" to feel comfortable as such.

For me: I like being a strong, competent, independent feminine woman, who loves to cook, wear makeup, dress up and be all that I want to be.