I don't live in a glass house - I'm going to throw stones

“Don’t underestimate the power of vision and direction. These are irresistible forces, able to transform what might appear to be unconquerable obstacles into traversable pathways and expanding opportunities. Strengthen the individual. Start with yourself. Take care with yourself. Define who you are. Refine your personality. Choose your destination and articulate your Being. As the great nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche so brilliantly noted, “He whose life has a why can bear almost any how.”

― Jordan B. Peterson

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The last while I've been embroiled in deep thought and philosophising about various scenarios, processes, people, places and cultures. I've been observing and meticulously making mental notes of peculiarities, nuances and general behaviours. People watching intrigues me and when I have a perfectly good example of a particular personality and/or persona to explore and experience while in my moments at work, I have decided to take advantage of the situation and use it as a learning experience.

I've been listening to a lot of podcasts on particular traits of different types of managers, leaders, "normal" people, psychopaths, bullies and so on. It's been exceptionally eye opening for me and at the same time somewhat disappointing as while I am totally aware that none of us are entirely alike and the chances of someone living out the same life history as you are like 1 in a bagillion, there are definitely general groupings that can take place. Yes, we are all human and we all have flaws, but we also can't lose sight of the fact that within us we also retain infinite potential to improve. Some choose to do so while others don't.

Studies have been done in various workplace environments over the last few decades of workplace assholes and the findings are not what I was wanting but somewhat close to what I was expecting as I have become somewhat cynical in my old-ish age. I'm not quite at the level of George Carlin just yet, but there's still time and the current world has so many great options of monumentally fucking shit up if you know what I mean.

Alas, I digress.

I have come to a point in my life where my tolerance for fuckassery (I'm not quite sure if that's even the right term now - assfuckery?, anyway...) has grown rather short. I pride myself in various values that I am constantly working on maintaining and man – LIFE IS SHORT! It's way too short to acquiesce your personal ethics for the sake of morons who treat you like dirt.

There is a saying that I heard years ago which I love. "Don't get into a mudwrestling fight with a pig; you will lose, end up dirty, all the while the pig enjoys it" and perhaps at the time I didn't quite yet understand how blatantly true that actually is. There are some people in the world that revel in the failure and misery of others. I can't quite understand how that is any way to live a good life, but it's their life not mine so who am I to judge, right?

Ah but in that itself lurks the darkest absolute. I am in fact absolutely obliged to judge this kind of behaviour. In many parts of the world, the omission of stopping a crime is within itself a crime and it's one of the reasons that we are in the current mess we're in worldwide. Apathy. And especially when the actions of that person are within your ambit, well then yes, you should judge them harshly I think.

The reason I chose the picture I used in this post is a visual representation of what's known as the broken window theory which I have included below:

In criminology, the broken windows theory states that visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes.[1] The theory suggests that policing methods that target minor crimes such as vandalism, loitering, public drinking, jaywalking, and fare evasion help to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness.
Source: Wikipedia

If we as participants within a society let people get away with things because they lack personal ethics, morals and values, they will tend to not only continue doing those things, but will more than likely escalate to worse things. The lack of corrective action is it's own kind of encouragement. It is human behaviour to test boundaries.

It is within our power to change this, by choosing to simply not take part in the game and while I know that may not be easy, the best way to have a robust value system is by learning through challenging deeds, actions and attitudes and using them as practice to fortify yourself.

So while I am not about to get into the ring with the metaphorical pig in my situation, I'm also not going to be her cheerleader! I have had to change my perspective and as I am fully aware that you simply cannot effect change within another person, you can always effect change within yourself, change your own perspective, change your own behaviour, change your own circumstances.

Sometimes you have to grow teeth and a thick skin, sometimes you have to replace the entire window frame and move to a new neighbourhood with people who have better ethics and similar values to your own.

_{All images are my own unless otherwise stated}