ranting lessons learned.

do you know about this blog?

toni pointed it out to me last week (with this satirical piece - hehe amazing), and i'm now glued to it. i've been a big easterly fan for awhile, and this blog is a perfect addendum to his books.

it's also helpful to read, counteracting so much of the donor-speak i deal with constantly at work. oh heavens this morning i was in the most frustrating of all frustrating meetings with a representative from the european commission. to counter balance the absurdity, i've settled on my lunch break of leftover beef negimaki to read some easterly gems and restore some faith in the greater good.

and this has all got me to thinking. and so i compiled a little list of what i have learned whilst working at the UN:

1. yes, the UN is incredibly bureaucratic and largely ineffective.

2. this is a result of many (NOT ALL) employees - adults mind you - acting like they are still in high school - betraying signs normally attributed only to teenagers, viz. laziness, hyper-ego, distraction, procrastination, dodging responsibility, and feigning intelligence on matters in which they are grossly incompetent.

3. these attributes are not limited to the UN - last night i heard dad ('rents are in town - thus the beef negimaki leftovers for lunch - love you guys!) handling a frustrating slew of emails/calls for work in the business sector where i know he has dealt with the same issues for 30 years.

4. we have also dealt with these issues in the NGO world - care for life in mozambique, and the members of our fam may remember PCRF back in the day. they're also in academia and government (duh).

5. the more time passes, the more i realize that there are many frustrations that you simply have to work around, and many of those frustrations are found in the weakness of individuals. and that those weaknesses are in no way limited to one sector, and that for as many incompetent and lazy people there are out there, there are amazing, hard-working, intelligent, and fantastic people working as well. i've met both types at UNICEF, and working with the latter has helped me from slipping into despairing hysteria.

i know this is all very simple and in no way earth-shattering, but i really do need to be reminded of such things every now and then (especially at work)... maybe you do too? plus i think it's all worth pointing out considering the UN is lambasted constantly for its ineffectiveness.

"darkness, light. strife and love. are they the workings of the same mind? the features of the same face?" and then doesn't that mantra simply sum everything up about life from start to finish? am i right? or rather are william wordsworth/terrence malick right?

methinks oui.