Tag: Self-esteem

Connect and Respect

I often go first to Home Page on LinkedIn to see who is connecting with whom.

The Network Effect assumes people are inherently decent, deserving respect and reciprocity. Society continues to work on that basis. Not random shooting, nor indiscriminate mass slaughter.

We have learned invaluable lessons in collaboration: WWII, internet peering, crowd-sourcing and job networking.

We have also learned invaluable lessons in ignoring our intuition: derivative bubble or work-life imbalance. For every new member we are linked with, newer 2nd-degree acquaintances also joined our circle indirectly.

Connect and Respect.

We honor their transparency (completing a profile), their professional experience and background, and their access to “friends in the high places”.

At the base, we respect people as fellow human beings, sojourners in this pilgrimage called Life, of which Work is a big part.

Each person brings a unique set of skills and circumstances. If asked, each has a story to tell, a lesson to teach us.

I refuse to speculate about why a PhD Student decided to get firearms and bullets to shoot down people randomly.

Nor do I try to explain away why higher-ups at Penn State Higher Learning decided to cover up the shame, which only worsens as time goes on.

When we feel that those were grotesque, instinctively we are for decency,  respect and want to connect.

Each person is sacred in his or her own right. Each person has a lot to give even if by being just a connector or memory keeper. The more the merrier. Keep them coming. Seek first to understand, more than to be understood (courtesy of the late Steven Covey).

Thank you for connecting and respecting.

Maslow and Vietnam

Tocqueville saw in America a country full of contradictions.

He could say the same with Vietnam: people are moving up the Maslow scale, but some want to leap-frog security step i.e. basic needs to self-esteem need.

Nouveau riches switch companions like Hollywood celebs. Forbes or Swiss bank lists almost 200 Millionaires (USD).

Everything is bought in cash. The money machines are counting them non-stop (Zimbabwe-like inflation) .

Dizzying pace.

Traffic weave in and out, as if choreographed by an invisible and illogical conductor;  yet there have been fewer accidents than you might think.

Westerners are seen running a red light like everyone else.  We call that adjustment. When in Rome, do like a Roman.

People here are more aware of health issues than in years past.

My cholesterol result is available in a few hours.  If it’s good, then two eggs please.

I can now move to the next step in the Maslow scale: security.

Love and self-esteem can wait. They have been there since the beginning of time. A man’s glory reflects in the beauty of his woman, and vice versa.

I will leave those to the drama department. For self-actualization, we already got Bill Gates and Bill Clinton.  I have my level to attain to: staying here and surviving here. Traffic during peak hour draws out the best in us, gladiator-like. No wonder young men wear black. It’s their body signal to the world: “don’t mess with me”.

Meanwhile, young Americans are also wearing black, but for an entirely different reason: they are into vampires.  Twilight stuff. A stage of neither living nor dead. Here, it’s very clear to me that people want to get somewhere, preferably up, regardless how many bikes are in their way.