Bad Choices

"Choices made, whether bad or good, follow you forever
and affect everyone in their path one way or another."
-J.E.B. Spredemann, An Unforgiveable Secret

This week's been an awful one! I haven't felt like writing on my blog.  My mind has been polluted by so much drama and confusion.  It's difficult to think about God and his loving influence.  It's hard to imagine God creating intelligent human life when people make incredibly bad choices day in and day out.

I know I'm not perfect.  I'm prone to listening to gossip and rumors.  Sometimes I tell my close friends what I hear on the "corporate street."   This is a bad choice on my own part.  (Okay, it's time for a trip to the confessional....) 

I definitely should not judge the going-ons of people around me. It's none of my business. People can do whatever they want with their lives making as many bad choices as they want.  However, when it affects me on a professional level, even in an indirect way, I feel angry and frustrated.  I think to myself:

 "Maybe if people left the drama at home and didn't spread it around like a virus we could get some work accomplished.  The environment would be a lot less stressful.  Plus, we may turn around a profit.  What a concept:  Make money!  Stop the gossiping, profanity, complaining, over-sensitivity, unethical behavior, and sleeping around.  This is not a doctor's office, a gentleman's club, a debt reduction center, a day care center or psychiatrist's office.  Do work you're paid to do!"

I've worked at my company for nearly three years.  I've been exposed to clash of different soap opera characters.  I'm used to it.  Working with a bunch of 20-Somethings mixed in with sales/marketing people and a couple of snarly managers makes for interesting daily episodes. A day doesn't go by without an F-bomb. We have had car wrecks, broken legs, bogus lawsuits, counterfeiting, out of wedlock pregnancies from coworker affairs, mass voluntary leaves, surprised firings, inventory theft, and a few questionable business transactions.  I'm pretty much ignored as the quality person for the organization.  I have to keep on my toes when it comes to necessary inspections.  Coworkers want to ship out product no matter if it's out of spec and defective. Everything is rush, rush, hurry up!  We need to make our numbers by the end of the month...... This week I made the bad choice of voicing my outrage in a harsh email.  People complained to my boss. She spoke to me in private and made some helpful recommendations on how to better handle a situation like this in the future. Overall, I think I made it firmly clear that as long as I work there I will not allow stuff to slide by.  I'm tired of being walked on as if I'm invisible.  I'm tired of being a nobody in that place. However, I can thank Our Lord for blessing me with an understanding boss.  She sees the bad choices the business makes everyday and how it affects overall quality.  Not only quality of the product itself but the quality of our brand and image.  As the number of bad choices increases exponentially, I'm worried our company may not exist in another year.  We may all become unemployed when our parent company finally realizes its trendy and fashionable subdivision isn't performing up to par. 

I imagine God watching humans on his "angelic earth cam" rolling his eyes and shaking his head.  He gets frustrated with tales from guardian angels describing how Joe Blow, Missy Mess, and Wanda the Whiner continually make bad choices.  

God gives us all the tools necessary to make good choices.  In fact, he encourages us to do the right thing.  The right thing seems too boring.  It's not dramatic enough.  It doesn't surprise and shock others.  Isn't that what life is all about:  One huge non-ending soap opera drama?  Aren't we all supposed to act on our worst behavior so that life is more meaningful and fun?  Isn't it all about me, myself, and I?  Should I be overly dramatic and raunchy to attract attention?  Should I continue to make bad choices while ruining my life  and the lives of innocent people in the process?  I pray nobody will answer "Yes" to any of these questions.  Good choices are necessary in order to live a satisfying, healthy, and vibrant life.

What's your choice?

• Keep the baby or abort it?
• Sleep with the married man/woman or give him/her the boot?
• Steal from the company or not?
• Gossip about the latest rumors or keep it to yourself?
• Shout and yell or behave calm and collected?
• Follow the Golden Rule or your own Revengeful Rule?
• Learn your lesson from a bad choice or repeat it over and over again?

All of us make bad decisions - bad choices.  It's how we handle such failings that matters.  We can tell the whole world our petty problems, and invite innocent people into our own personal dramas, or we can pray, meditate, and reflect. Examine the bad choices we've made, and with God's help, discover ways to improve difficult circumstances....When it comes to a job, it's important to leave the personal baggage at home, do good and honest work, and not dwell on the negative.  Yes, it seems impossible when we work around a bunch of people we may have nothing in common with and don't even like.  

I find praying the Holy Rosary is my best defense against allowing workplace drama to overwhelm me.  Our Blessed Mother has a mysterious way of soothing my anxiety and discomfort, encouraging inner peace.

Let us make good choices from now on with the Lord as our guide !

-J.