Work ethics

Liz Ryan summarised it as follows:

Five things we owe our employers:

• Focused and earnest work at the time we are paid to work,
• Your good intentions on the job,
• Respect for people, facilities and equipment at work,
• Work integrity,
• Your best possible care to the external party you deal with while at work.

Five things we don't owe our employers:

• Your health.  Don't prioritise work so much that you lose sleep, etc over it.
• Your pretentiousness.  Don't say words you think your employer wants to hear if you don't mean them.
• Unearned loyalty.  Employers cannot tell you who to be loyal to.
• Details of your personal life.  If you can't do something because in encroaches on your personal time, you should be able to explain that without explaining why.
• Your soul.  It is a business relationship.  Your employer does not have the right to drive your whole life.

Would you agree?  How do you set boundaries between your personal life and your work?  Do you give your best at work because that is what you are paid for?

The Economist reckons that we are feeling the need to be busy because of work expectations.  We think we have less time as we feel rushed at work, even though, in reality, we are actually having more leisure time compared to before.  We feel the need to be frugal with our time when we are paid by the hour.  We are afraid of being financially poor if we do not work hard enough.  However, reality is actually different from these perceptions.

Do you feel this way?  How do you avoid this trap of not being as free with your time as you should be?

Do you have time for family, for God, for recreation besides work?  How do you balance time between work and leisure and have good ethics in what you do at work?

Celebrating confusion

I liked how John Burton called the case of Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner "celebrating confusion".

Bruce was apparently born male, but had surgery to make himself look female.  This made headlines in world news in the last week.  Bruce seemed to have regretted his decision, at least for a moment, when he said "What did I just do? What did I just do to myself?".  However, the media seems to be promoting his action as a trend.

Actually, the case of transgender has been around for years.  What Bruce did is not so new.  Nor is it to something to glorify, in my opinion.

Michael Brown talks about it as being fluid something the world things as being desirable, even if unnatural.   It is as though we should be neither male nor female, even though God created us as male and female - Genesis 1:27).  That we should maim ourselves to identify with the maim, not because of something out of our control, but because we choose to.  That we should be able to switch identities at a whim.

Some say that we shouldn't care what others do to themselves.  Michael argues otherwise.  We should protect against people getting hurt, committing suicide, dismembering their bodies, etc.

What is the world coming to?  How should we live in this world?  Are there values, ethics, right and wrong that we need to protect?  Or can people have the right to do to themselves anything they like - even to the point of maiming or killing themselves?

I would lump issues of abortion together with this.  Should people be allowed to kill foetii because of unwanted pregnancies?  What of the lives of the young?  is that murder?

Surely, people have the right to decide some things about their own bodies, eg. to cloth ourselves and to keep ourselves healthy.  This is probably a responsibility too.  But how much right should we have?  Can we really do anything we like with the bodies that our God has given us?

Travellers etiquette

Some travel tips suggest that to be polite, one should try to avoid:

• Snoring,
• Bumping others with one's luggage,
• Putting on makeup in public.

I was not successful trying to relocate my source for those tips.  Instead, I found the following list:

• Arrive early
• Stay calm even when receiving bad news
• Dress and pack sensibly with thought for security checks
• Create your own environment with shades, MP3 player, etc if you don't like what is provided
• Be thoughtful of others when taking calls on cellphone
• Share the arm rests
• Be considerate towards grumpy adults and tired children
• Reading over another's shoulder is rude
• Pack your own lunch if you have to, but avoid smelly foods if you do
• You can't choose your neighbours, but you can choose to be comfortable anyway.

What do you think?  Are there things you would like to add to or remove from these lists?  How should travellers today behave?

Is it any different from before?

How much

How much money do we actually need?

Can we give it all away?  Or do we need to save for our future?

Too much savings is bad.  It means we are not sharing or giving.

But not saving is irresponsible.  As we do need something to retire on.

How do we budget?

Financial advisors tell us to set aside something for daily expenses, something for giving, something for contingencies, something for holidays and something for the future.  This can be easier if you have a fixed income.  But not if your income situation is not stable or large.  And many of us are in that situation.

How would you advise in this situation?

Where does God and family come into your consideration in this issue of budgets?

Do you budget?  Successfully?

If not, then can you imagine the difficulty faced by a Federal Budget?  It is hard to predict the future.  It is hard to line up national values, as different people have different opinions.

What would you do if you were the treasurer?