My job is changing again with another shift in my hours and no consult with me as to what might interest me. I tend to be easy to get along with and not one to create waves. I am not a complainer but if I am unhappy I will speak up. I did today and people responded with apologies. How come in a counseling agency there is not more communications between the people who run the agency and those who deliver the services?

Where you work, is there real communications going on with the intention of all parts of the organization working together? Or are decisions handed down and people just do what they are told? Most people including myself tend to feel as if they have very little power at work. It seems the only option for most employees is to quit if they are dissatisfied. Is that the way it is where you work? What happened to power for the people?

How come in America unions have lost most of their power? How come most people only get two weeks vacation and are expected to work the other 50 weeks? In Europe many people get a month off to rest and recuperate. What is with the 40-hour work week and how come we all just agree to it? Work seems like a giant trance many just do without much questioning. Where did the idea of work dominating most of our adult life come from? Sometimes it feels like the masses get just enough wages to get by on while many live in incredible wealth, why is that? The trade treaties our government signed in the recent past under Clinton and Bush were basically for the benefit of the corporations with little or no real concern for the needs of the workers.

Out of 40 years of working I have come to wonder what has this been about and why did I comply? I feel myself growing very restless and I sense I will soon leave the old work pattern behind. Yes my work has meaning and purpose but it is does not feel ok to work with clients who aren’t interested in help. Requirements seem to cause numbness and resentment without communications. Yes I know work is not a democracy but working in a system that is driven by a capitalistic model seems to care little about me as a human being. It seems odd in some way that the organization I work for cares more about the care of the clients we serve than the employee’s. This is very much like the private sector where making money wins out over the needs of the workers.

What is your work life like? Do you like working as many hours as you do? Are you satisfied with the domination of the capitalistic model over your work life?

It seems time for us to wake up to the limits placed on us in the name of social norms driven by the for profit model. Most people I know are very compliant and passive in the work world, none of them are lazy, and they all want a better life. So what changes would you make?

Peace Letter #72

Dear President Obama,

The working people of this nation are the ones who suffer the most when no one regulates the private sector. It has always been that way and the Bush years proved that clearly. Yet many Americans have been conditioned to believe in free market capitalism even though it is clearly against their best interests. How can we wake them up so they can become informed citizens?

The working people of this nation want peace not war, they want hope for the future not the fear based political system, they want a better life for their families not a damage planet and they want a government responsive to their needs not the money influenced Congress in Washington D.C. Yes there is much to do and we who can see what is going on are behind you.

Joseph Bernard, Ph.D.

Join me and send President Obama emails of support and encourage the end of war and the other dysfunctional ways of government at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact