Social Commentary

Today is Blog Action Day but I was already thinking of doing this post when I saw one of my Facebook friends ask why more Christians aren’t involved in the green movement. This might be a controversial post or it may not be. Sometimes we create controversy where none actually exist. I am a Christian AND a scientist. And such a combination is not as rare as many would have you believe. I believe that science explains how things work but not why while my Bible goes more into why by not the specifics of how. They are not mutually exclusive.

I can’t look at something in nature like Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina (pictured below) and not know that there’s something bigger than us mere humans. At the same time, I know that science can explain how glaciers are formed and why they are melting at an alarming rate.

While science tells us that we must take action to take care of our planet, the Bible does as well. Obviously, it’s not clearly spelled out but the groundwork is there. While Genesis establishes that mankind rules over all the earth, the concept of stewardship is pervasive. Are we not mere stewards whose job is to take care of all the natural resources that God has created? We certainly don’t own them and certainly can’t take them with us when we leave this earth.

Choices we make everyday are having a drastic effect on our planet now. The consequences could prove catastrophic if we don’t do something to prevent further damage. Climate change is not a political issue and politicians alone should not be expected to fix it. It is the responsibility of every individual on this planet. Are you onboard? Read Scientific American’s 10 Solutions for Climate Change now to see what you can do.

Photo credit: me

See more glacier photos here.

A conversation with my father brought to mind a blog post that I’ve been meaning to write. It’s a question that seems to come up quite frequently. Why has seemingly everyone assumed that a woman cannot have a career AND a family. Are these concepts mutually exclusive? According to many people they are.

Three years ago I posed a question to a group of women about how women can avoid pregnancy discrimination at work and got some interesting responses. Many focused on the legality of anti-pregnancy bias and whether or not it can be proven while others told me that women are fooling themselves if they think that can have both a family and a career. One woman started her own company to avoid the work drama. I got several emails from women wanting to know what kinds of responses I had received because they too were afraid of being discriminated against for having children.

Working women and families are certainly nothing new to me as my mother as well as all of my aunts worked while also having a family. I have also seen people say that women automatically take less stressful jobs with less potential for group after starting a family. I would like to understand if that is because they want to or if it’s because they are expected to. In addition, are these women from families where someone else is the primary provider? This is important to me as many single mothers I know do the same types of jobs they were doing before they had kids. Not only that but they also attend school to advance their education to help their careers. So to me it is a given that a woman can do both. I am a bit taken a back when others don’t see it that way.

What my father said to me was “I thought you were all about your career and not into kids.” I still wonder why he as well as others have said that about me. I know people who are very vocal about their desire not to have kids; I’ve never expressed this. I also don’t know what “all about your career” even means; especially since I hardly ever discuss it. What I am most certainly about is make sure that if I (re)marry and decide to have kids that it’s not for anything other than the right reason. The wrong reasons include my biological clock and the infamous “I’m not getting any younger.” One of the worse things in the world for me would be to be stuck in a stupid marriage because I’m afraid to be alone or because I rushed to have kids because my clock was ticking. When I make that decision I want it to be right. If God sees fit to bless me with children, then I will have them.

Getting back to the issue at hand though, it is assumed that a career-minded woman has no interest in family. A guy friend of mine told me that so many women are single because they spend too much time on their careers. This is unbelievable to me since I’ve always held the belief that you spend time working on self and growing and then the relationship/marriage thing will come. I’ve apparently been living on another planet with that one.

Having supported myself for how many ever years, I do question the idea of needing a man to support me as well as other societal norms that I don’t necessarily subscribe to. Among my problems is the belief that even though my career is just as important as any man’s, society says that I should give mine up should children enter the equation. Am I less of a human because I’m a woman? Maybe I just have less rights as a woman?

It’s been several months since PR professional, James Andrews, sent a message on Twitter that set the blogosphere on fire.  I’ve been seeing more mentions of the incident lately so I decided to weigh in with my perspective which appears to be different than the majority I have read.

If you are unfamiliar with the incident, James Andrews sent a tweet that said:

True confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say, ‘I would die if I had to live here’.

The back story was that Andrews was in Memphis for a meeting with FedEx about social media.  The tweet itself didn’t cause the stir in the blogosphere instead it was the public reaction to the tweet by a FedEx employee.

Mr. Andrews,

If I interpret your post correctly, these are your comments about Memphis a few hours after arriving in the global headquarters city of one of your key and lucrative clients, and the home of arguably one of the most important entrepreneurs in the history of business, FedEx founder Fred Smith.

Many of my peers and I feel this is inappropriate. We do not know the total millions of dollars FedEx Corporation pays Ketchum annually for the valuable and important work your company does for us around the globe. We are confident however, it is enough to expect a greater level of respect and awareness from someone in your position as a vice president at a major global player in your industry. A hazard of social networking is people will read what you write.

Not knowing exactly what prompted your comments, I will admit the area around our airport is a bit of an eyesore, not without crime, prostitution, commercial decay, and a few potholes. But there is a major political, community, religious, and business effort underway, that includes FedEx, to transform that area. We’re hopeful that over time, our city will have a better “face” to present to visitors.

James, everyone participating in today’s event, including those in the auditorium with you this morning, just received their first paycheck of 2009 containing a 5% pay cut… which we wholeheartedly support because it continued the tradition established by Mr. Smith of doing whatever it takes to protect jobs.

Considering that we just entered the second year of a U.S. recession, and we are experiencing significant business loss due to the global economic downturn, many of my peers and I question the expense of paying Ketchum to produce the video open for today’s event; work that could have been achieved by internal, award-winning professionals with decades of experience in television production.

Additionally Mr. Andrews, with all due respect, to continue the context of your post; true confession: many of my peers and I don’t see much relevance between your presentation this morning and the work we do in Employee Communications.

While most have jumped on the fact that Andrews offended FedEx by seeming to publicly slam Memphis.  Most have not pointed out that the person who wrote this message was in FedEx’s communications department which would be in direct competition for whatever services Andrews and his firm were selling to FedEx.  It’s obvious from the tone that the employee felt threatened by this PR firm coming in and “showing” them social media.

When Andrews was confronted with this, he explained that his tweet was in response to an incident by an intolerant individual at his hotel.  Many have said that they don’t buy it.  I’d imagine that those who don’t believe him have never been on the receiving end of intolerance when traveling.  Furthermore, I find it ridiculous that people can be so offended by a statement about a city.  Quite frankly I will admit that one incident can form my opinion about a place.

In 1998, I moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with my then fiancé (now ex-husband).  Many of his friends would ask me how I liked Milwaukee.  Having moved there from Washington, DC, I would say that it was a lot different than what I was used to.  Many of them took offense without even caring to ask what I meant by the remark.  It was not the best thing to say, I agree but they the failed to even consider my point of view on the matter.  I had moved to Milwaukee, which is the most segregated city in the north, from Washington, DC, which is the home of the most educated Black people in the country.  What welcomed me to Milwaukee was the fact that at work, I was ignored and avoided by most and treated like a spectacle by others.  When not at work, I was treated like dirt in general, especially depending on what side of town I was on. Not only that but the native Milwaukeeans that I knew were not very welcoming of transplants like me.  It was very depressing.   While I now have some good friends who live in Milwaukee my opinions of the city were directly shaped by my experiences there.  One can disagree with me all they want about how nice a place Milwaukee is to live but they didn’t experience what I experienced.  Even though I lived there for three years, I still say it’s a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.  And if you go anywhere near the airport, you will experience intolerance as the airport is not on our side of town.

Now, James Andrews visited Memphis from Atlanta, another center of successful Black people.  I’m quite sure being treated badly by a hotel employee was a huge culture shock to him.  Can he be blamed for his opinion of not wanting to live there?  What gives someone the right to be offended by his reaction to how he was treated?  His tweet didn’t even mention the city or the hotel so it’s even more ridiculous that anyone was offended by it.  As I said before, the FedEx employee was probably more offended that an outside PR firm had come to “teach” the internal communications department about social media.

I’ve been to Memphis.  While the area around the airport is less than desirable, that’s not a big deal since it’s the same way for most cities I’ve been to.  What I did notice was that downtown was very quaint; a lot of the buildings have been restored and there are a lot of beautiful homes.  This is something you don’t see in many cities.  The riverfront area is nice (it reminded me of the lakefront area in Milwaukee which is also nice).  Just a few blocks from downtown, however, were housing projects where the Black people seemed to live.  While I was not in Memphis for an extended period of time, this is what I saw.  This is what I was greeted with.  What impressions should I make from that?

Have you ever been treated like you didn’t belong somewhere by a hotel or store employee?  I have.  This happens in a lot of places I go in my hometown of Chesapeake, Virginia.  They treated me like this when I was growing up there and they still treat me like this when I visit.  If you tell me that the place is racist, I won’t be offended even though William E. Ward, a black man, was the mayor for 14 years.  It’s just an opinion; everyone has one.  The funny thing is that even in the Washington, DC, area there are places that I could go and be treated like a common criminal.  It doesn’t matter how educated I am or how much money I make.

If I was visiting a place and that was the first thing I experienced, my entire experience of the place would be tainted by that indicent.  Instead of being offended by negative comments about your town, work to change it.  I am disappointed that in all the commotion, no one even thought to look at how Black people are treated in Memphis.  Andrews is not the only one with this opinion.