#defiance #challenge #complacency #acceptance
When we think of defiance, we think of fighting back against someone or something in authority. People defy dictators. Children defy parents, teachers etc.
In other words, we think of defiance as a bad thing. (We certainly don’t want to raise defiant toddlers).
When we challenge something, we take on the status quo. We stand up for what’s right, against what’s wrong. South Africans challenged apartheid. American blacks challenged racism etc. We think of challenge as a good thing.
As adults, we defy evil and challenge for the good. Perhaps we challenge ourselves to defy those things that are keeping us from being the best we can be.
The opposite of defiance is complacency. The opposite of challenge is acceptance.
The question, therefore, becomes: are we too afraid to defy what is, even though it’s not doing right by us? Do we dare not challenge ourselves to go over or around what is, to make our lives better?
We all have different situations. Some of our situations are good, and worth maintaining, like a good-paying job we enjoy.
For many of us, our situations need, or require, change. Perhaps we’ve let change happen to us, thinking, although we don’t like what’s happening, there’s nothing we can do about it. We accept, rather than challenge. We become complacent, rather than defiant.
Very likely, in whatever situation you are in, there is SOMETHING you can do to change it for the better. You don’t have to wish for better circumstances to come your way. You can create better circumstances by challenging yourself to be a little defiant.
Too often, we are taught by our elders not to challenge, not to be defiant. You’ve all heard the expressions, “keep your nose to the grindstone,” or “keep your head low,” or “don’t make waves.” If you do those things, you’ll stay out of trouble.
Today, however, particularly in the workplace, that advice can produce no fruit. Some very hard-working people may wake up one morning, go to work as usual, only to find they are suddenly out of a job.
The complacent ones, those who accept what is, pack up their things, go home, complain, cry etc., and start to think that life as they knew it is over.
Defiant ones, those who’ve challenged themselves, have not only anticipated that circumstance, they’ve prepared for it. Perhaps they’ve spent some part-time, off-work hours creating a secondary income – perhaps even one that dwarfs their salaries.
There are many vehicles out there that will allow you to do that. To check out one of the best, message me.
The lesson here is perhaps that many people accept what is, and become complacent. When change occurs, they don’t take it well and long for the old days that will never come back.
Defiant ones realize that change happens often. They prepare for the day when their good situations disappear, or change for the worse. Perhaps they don’t know when it will happen, but they realize that someday it will. When it does, they challenge themselves to become even better than they were.
Defiance in young children may not be desirable, but you may want to raise your children to become defiant adults. You do that by being defiant yourself. Let the children watch you overcome obstacles. Let them watch you challenge yourself to turn a bad situation into something that makes you better.
If you challenge yourself to become defiant, you may find yourself in a great situation you had never believed possible.
Peter
Tag Archives: jobs lost
TRAINING AN IMMIGRANT TO TAKE YOUR JOB?
#opportunity #60Minutes #immigrants #JobsLost
It’s hard to believe that a company can tell a worker, who has been on the job there for, say, 20 years and has given his life to that company, that he will be laid off.
It’s harder to believe that same company would insult that same person by telling him that he CAN’T leave until he trains his replacement – an immigrant, who will make a good bit less than he did, to do the same work. If he leaves early in disgust, he loses his severance package.
The CBS News TV show “60 Minutes” reported on this practice on its March 19, 2017, edition. The report focused on groups of technology workers at various companies who are facing this.
The report talks about immigrants getting a special H-1B visa to come over here to do specially skilled jobs that could not be filled by Americans. But, as any law, some will find a way to exploit it. Companies are doing just that, the report says.
We can debate for hours what Congress and the president should do about immigration. But this report is not about low-skilled manual laborers. This is about highly skilled, and relatively highly paid, American workers who have needed skills, yet are getting kicked in the teeth.
It’s worse than digging one’s own grave, a worker told correspondent Bill Whitaker.
So, let’s break this down. If you have skills that are in demand, and believe you will never lose your job, think again.
If you believe the immigration problems in the U.S. are driven solely by immigrants, think again. This is a business-driven problem. There can be no reason this is going on, other than companies wanting to make or save money, no matter who is affected. These companies have ensured through lobbying that government isn’t going to mess with what they are doing.
So, logically, one could think, why are these immigrants, who obviously have skills they could parlay in their own country, coming here and agreeing to work for that much less in American dollars? It’s easy to presume that they are doing it because they are still making more than they would in any other country.
That’s may be true, but there may be another reason, and it has nothing to do with doing anyone any harm. It’s been said that one in 10 people who come to the United States from elsewhere become millionaires. That’s an astounding statistic. So these highly skilled folks may see potential opportunity to get rich by, say, inventing something, that they may not have in their home countries.
To back that up, Thomas Heath, in The Washington Post, reports that in Forbes Magazine’s annual list of the 400 richest Americans, a record 42 of them are immigrants from 21 countries. Heath’s story was also published in the March 20, 2017, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The fact that immigrants would make less than their American predecessors did, in the first job that brought them to the U.S., is insignificant to them. The OPPORTUNITY to be in the United States, and to do something great, is what drives them.
There is good news in all this for those displaced, highly skilled American workers. There are many vehicles out there for them to create their own, potentially lucrative, income, too. They may not know about them, or they may even believe that they cannot do what would be asked of them. Yet, they can potentially be not just financially stable, but potentially financially free, without that job they lost.
Such vehicles are available to anyone, regardless of race, education or background. To check out one of the best, message me.
In sum, immigrants WILL come, when they see opportunity. Companies will take advantage of every loophole in every law to improve their bottom lines. As a worker, there is little you can do about it. Your future is in your hands, no matter what happens to you.
Even if laws are changed, new loopholes will be created. The lesson here: ways to potentially fire the boss before he fires you are out there. Don’t be afraid to look for them, and look at them. You never know what someone, either already in your life or who will come into your life, may have his hands on. It could be a lifesaver for you.
As our parents used to tell us when we approached a railroad crossing that didn’t have lights or an arm that came down to block traffic when a train was coming: stop, look and listen. You never know when, or how or from whom, your opportunity will come.
Peter