Could I Sign This Too?

Could I sign this too?

(original link)

I got bored.

It would probably look better if it weren't so low-res, but I don't care too much.

A lot of people hate Mondays, saying it's the worst day of the week.

They're wrong. That honor belongs to Tuesday.

I don't like Tuesdays. Nothing ever happens on a Tuesday. Mondays I can get excited for classes, but Tuesdays just drag on for ages, never ending, always reminding me that I have the rest of the week to slog through as well. Even Wednesdays, the middle of the week, have some merit.

It doesn't help that I have lab also, but that's a different story.

Authority

Let me clear up a common misconception:

Being in a position of authority DOES NOT mean that you are always right. It means that you have proven yourself to be less wrong than the rest of us on a regular basis, and that we trust you with responsibilities where being wrong can be hazardous.

Authority is a position of power, yes, but it comes with a price: making sure we stay organized and don't fail. Since failure could possibly mean death, we expect you to be right most of the time. Just because we expect it of you, however, does not mean you are right automatically.

If you are wrong - and, being human, you will be wrong - it is our responsibility to show you. You will be called out because of it in front of everyone you have influence over, and it is your responsibility to say "I'm sorry," rather than "you're all wrong and I'm right." In fact, if you say such a thing, or show it by your actions, we will probably remove you from your position of power, because we can't trust you to be less wrong than the rest of us anymore.

Yet with all this responsibility packed into this job description, authority is still a highly sought-after position of pride and power instead of humility (for God knows why). The humility part of it keeps you level-headed so you don't make rash decisions that are most likely wrong.

I'm not trying to say that you can't afford to be wrong. What I am trying to say is that you shouldn't expect to be right. Keep your head in the game so we don't have to deal with you being wrong and arrogant.

I don't think 'infused' would even be a word if it weren't for advertising.

Overheard in the hallway

There's a fine line between simply stating your opinion and outright complaining: it's the repetition.

I'm okay with people stating their opinions around me, even if those opinions don't line up with mine. In fact, I encourage it; it brings to my mind arguments that I've never heard before, so I can defend or refute them and strengthen my position. I don't usually argue my point with them directly (in fact, I usually think of my arguments at two o'clock that night), but in the future I can defend my own standpoint.

The trouble comes when someone has an opinion that they're not afraid to let everyone know of... every time the topic comes up. It doesn't matter if it's a topic of conversation, a person that walks by, or a commercial on TV, they'll bring it up again. EVERY. TIME. I hear the same points argued so often that I begin to wonder if this person actually WANTS someone to prove them wrong. My mind starts to drift when this occurs (since I've heard it all already), so when this happened just recently I found an interesting parallel to this situation.

Remember when we were kids (if you're not still) and we complained a lot? We would keep saying the same thing over and over, and our parents would get sick and tired of hearing us and either spank us or cave in and buy the toy. However it ended up, we were expecting some sort of action as a response. It wasn't always what we wanted it to be, but we wanted something to come of our work.

It's very easy to argue that we were just stating our opinion, but it was the repetition that made it complaining.

Of course, nothing's actually changed. People just complain about different things in a more "socially acceptable" way. Even the expected response is still there. What I don't understand is what response people are expecting. I mean, what do you expect me to do? Agree with you? Argue with you? Because I can't change it for you. Either way, though, I'll get tired of you defending your position for the umpteenth time. I actually like talking about different things than we did yesterday. But that's just my opinion.

Point is (and this is a lesson for me too), if that commercial comes up again, resist the urge to state your opinion, because everyone in the room already knows.