Before any Important Question- Consult the Boss First!

Today is a cold, windy day with a few snow flurries still hovering in the air. I had hoped by now the grass would be green and the little buds would be poking themselves out on the end of the tree branches. It is not going to happen this weekend in Toronto. As I write I can hear the gusty winds rattling the metal panels on our balconies. Apparently I still have not fully learned the importance of patience.

When I sailed across the North Atlantic in a small sailboat a few years ago, I learned what 'being' is like when life is reduced to it's most fundamental skill - survival! But survival, both individual and tribal, is a constant for every human being even when our circumstance raises us above that awareness. It is especially paramount for those people living on the edge of existence, where life is a basic struggle just to stay alive. As the world population grows and resources become less plentiful, we witness more and more people risking everything to find a better life. But for those who have some system in place to provide for basic needs, and that includes most Canadians, we need to step up to a higher plane, if we are to reach any level of personal satisfaction or happiness.

Although the dictionary will tell you that the meaning of authority is the right and capability to command and be obeyed, I think that definition more properly defines power. Rather, let's think of authority as authorship. This means everyone of us is an author who is constantly writing our own life's story. If we accept this understanding of authority, then it must follow that each one of us is the principle authority in our own life. We add to that story every day through our decisions and actions. Every life is an autobiography with only one author, YOU! In Dick's view this can only mean, that as an adult, no one in this world has any authority over us unless we give it away.

I once had a boss who was trying to get me to do something I felt was not right. He became argumentative and angry. I stepped a bit over the line when I said to him, " When I took this job I knowingly gave you some of my personal power, trusting that you would respect it. The only reason you are my "boss" is because of this transfer of authority. If you continue to abuse it, I will take it back".  His approach to most challenges was that his way was the only way. Charles Taylor, author of A Secular Age would say: For someone who has a hammer all problems look like nails. Of course, the only way of taking it back was to quit my job! Fortunately for me, calmer heads prevailed!

As the Federal election campaigns are closing in on the last two weeks I can't but help notice that they miss this critical point.  As a nation we believe that our governments can only help create the right conditions, conditions that will encourage investment, create jobs, and allow individuals to be responsible for their own lives. Obviously, part of that responsibility is to show concern for those citizens who are unable to provide for themselves. For the rest of us, who are adults,  we should be cautious when we allow others to run our lives. In Dick's view there is only one boss and now and again, because I live in a community, I have to transfer some of that authority to others. But I better keep an eye on what they do with it!

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week