Old School

Image from www.zazzle.co.uk

As I sat at my make-up mirror this morning, I thought about a post one of my sisters recently shared on Facebook about a veteran nurse whose sister-in-law was in the hospital in ICU for a brain bleed. When the nurse went to visit her sister-in-law, she was so grateful to see that she was, in fact, going to be okay. But while she was there, she noticed many basic "Nursing 101" issues that had not been taken care of for this member of her family whom she loved dearly. Determined to get to the bottom of the quality of care, or lack thereof, her sister-in-law was receiving, she began to investigate the most pressing issues of negligence she could see for herself. The veteran nurse became more upset as she realized just what shoddy work many of the nurses who where charged to care for her sister were doing. And worse, how arrogant and dismissive they seemed to be about it. She concluded that we live in a world that seems to have forgotten even the most basic levels of craftsmanship, quality skills and work ethic. I do not disagree.

Since my husband retired from the Air Force and we moved back to our hometown, over and over again we have seen a complete lack of ethics and business sense from many of the places in our local area. Examples such as numerous employers who do not get back to applicants in a timely manner (...or at all) in regards to job openings, quality of workmanship a by-product unmentioned in a slick, fast-paced rat race that appears to be more and more filled with "rats", and basic business relations and courteous principles that have become outdated. When I came down for breakfast and expressed these ideas with my husband, he nodded frequently, agreeing with my thoughts on this matter. He went on to say, "We have lost our moral fiber with good business practices now a dinosaur that permeates all levels of our society."  I mentioned one of my all-time favorite professors, an old school thinker and one of the smartest men I have ever met, telling my husband that one of the reasons he was often unpopular with students was because he held them to high standards, requiring them to actually think for themselves and articulate logical ideas in an academic manner. My husband responded to this by saying, "Well, babe, he was not popular because he didn't just let students check 'those' boxes on their list and move on like most other teachers would have done." 

I don't want to believe that he is right, that fundamental good practices and quality work have become 'old school', however increasing evidence supports his cynical assessment. It bothers me to think that we've become a people who collectively spout things like "quality education", "moral business practices", and "building strong customer relationships", while behind the scenes doing exactly the opposite. With this being an election year, those messages, those lies will be spouted more than I can stomach, especially knowing that it's a Wizard of Oz kind of act, i.e. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain". The "outside" appears shiny and glorious, and yet the underneath is full of rot. What ramifications does that suggest for our future?

Footnote: I want to add that while the above seems to apply more and more to the places we deal with in our every day life, there are still the rare few places, businesses, institutions for higher learning, etc. who are built on the foundation of "quality" and "high standards". From small local business owners to the students, alumni, faculty and staff at Wake Forest University and connected to Wake Med, we have found glimmers of hope that things we value are not dead. It is a comfort to find "right" in a sea of "wrong" and it's greatly appreciated!