I was at a child care conference over the weekend. A very national thing with a lot of big wigs, such as Doer, Layton, federal and provincial ministers, MPs. (At one point I was about 10 feet away from Layton and thought about going over and starting a conversation, but what would I say? "I find you highly annoying as an individual but I like a few of your policy ideas." At another, I looked around my table and realized that the Health Minister was there, too) Please don't think I'm bragging. Quite the opposite. I don't know the powerful people, although I know some people who do. Because of that, I am getting glimpses into that sphere and I just find that I am fairly unimpressed. People are people. There is nothing really special or spectacular about people in government. They have strengths, they have faults. They make some good decisions, they make more bad ones than I would have expected.
And then there's protocol. I wanted to search out my supervisor and sit with her, but I had the impression she would be with the big wigs and that a lowly student probably wouldn't be too welcome there. There's a kind of caste system at work, and people in government often don't want to talk to any civil servants except in the level right below them. Because of that, there is so much bad communication.
What crap! It just all seems so pretentious. It makes me really glad that I started out my career with kids in care. I know who God values. And it's not the people in the $600 suits.
That said, I really, really like this whole area that I'm in right now. Research and policy. How many of you reading this would find that the least bit interesting? I'm thinking few. And that is cool. You want to know why? Because at the age of 36 I'm finally figuring out what I am skilled at, talented at and what interests me rather than trying to squeeze myself into a mold of what I think other people like and do so that I will somehow fit in better.
Another annoying thing. A well-known feminist was speaking and started spouting off about the rights that women have won, including abortion, and paralleling that to the fight for universal child care. I felt like booing. I felt like standing up and shouting "How DARE you make such a comparison! This conference is about CARING for kids, not killing them!"
Why don't they get it?
And then there's protocol. I wanted to search out my supervisor and sit with her, but I had the impression she would be with the big wigs and that a lowly student probably wouldn't be too welcome there. There's a kind of caste system at work, and people in government often don't want to talk to any civil servants except in the level right below them. Because of that, there is so much bad communication.
What crap! It just all seems so pretentious. It makes me really glad that I started out my career with kids in care. I know who God values. And it's not the people in the $600 suits.
That said, I really, really like this whole area that I'm in right now. Research and policy. How many of you reading this would find that the least bit interesting? I'm thinking few. And that is cool. You want to know why? Because at the age of 36 I'm finally figuring out what I am skilled at, talented at and what interests me rather than trying to squeeze myself into a mold of what I think other people like and do so that I will somehow fit in better.
Another annoying thing. A well-known feminist was speaking and started spouting off about the rights that women have won, including abortion, and paralleling that to the fight for universal child care. I felt like booing. I felt like standing up and shouting "How DARE you make such a comparison! This conference is about CARING for kids, not killing them!"
Why don't they get it?
posted by Jude | 9:29 PM
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