Search for your larger belongingness

Human beings have the compelling need to belong and identify themselves with a group. What is surprising is that even the well-educated, well-traveled , worldly aware and wise  fall prey to the biases of their early upbringing little too easily. I recently read a FB post that was prompted by the Andhra-Telangana split and the possibility that Hyderabad airport may not get named “N.T.R. Airport”. The writer identified himself as a Telugu, seemed to dislike being banded together with south Indians or Tamils and felt comfort in the fact that NTR upped the game for Telugus throughout his career and life. This prompted me to think about belongingness, the benefits of it being a larger group and our own limitations that cause us to default to a smaller group most of time.  Through a subtle shift in our thinking, I bet we can have more success in being more inclusive.

Let me try to explain with an analogy that is not perfect, but may help drive home the point. Talking of home, what exactly is ‘home’ in one’s mind? It could be the house one lives in, the neighborhood where they spend most of the time, the city, the state, the country or even the planet or our galaxy. It all depends on how we view ‘home’ under a specific context. When I pick up my daughter from school some 5 miles away and reach our front driveway, I feel I’ve reached home; when I’m driving back from southern California, entering the outskirts of San Jose or even Gilroy feels ‘home’; when I was on my 48 state road trip, entering California from Nevada felt ‘home’, even though I still had a day’s driving to do; flying back from an international trip, entering the US airspace feels ‘home’. Someday in the near future, seeing Earth from above and entering its atmosphere would feel ‘home’ when completing an interstellar travel. If home could be so many things depending upon our mindset and thinking, why can’t we strive to be more inclusive when it comes to human beings and belongingness? 

Many problems in the world will dissipate if we are able to do that. Before brushing this thought aside as impractical, I urge you explore a way to feel  pride in our nation or language or religion or caste or ethnicity or gender without excluding those who don’t belong in that group. 

Imagine!

When your mind is preoccupied, you don’t see a big red car!

And when you back out your Tesla Model S with your mind preoccupied and don’t see the big red Honda CR-V, you bump into it. It may be a very slow speed impact, but the ding in the Model S tail gate has the potential to give you grief.

Well, that’s what happened to me this morning. To my mind (damn you, limbic system), the red car wasn't even there… it was parked in the car port and not in the driveway.

I have resolved to not let this small bump turn my life upside down. I’m not going to sulk and be irritable; I’m not going to feel miserable by reliving the incident over and over, thinking, “if only…” 

In the larger scheme of things, it doesn't matter.

The ding can stay until I choose to fix it; it’s only a car!

Apollo – sorry I kept you off the Model S until now. You are welcome to take rides in it from now on. What was I thinking…. It’s only a car!

Responsible Capitalism

I attended the People’s Climate Rally at Oakland on Sep 21^st. I wasn’t sure what to expect, after all, it was the first rally I’ve ever attended and the topic itself draws lukewarm response from people, even from those who appear socially responsible.  One could claim the march itself was a tremendous success in NYC where it drew some 400,000 onto the road. Worldwide, it looks like nearly 700,000 people took to the road and participated in regional events. That, however, is a very small percentage of the 7 billion world population.

At Oakland, the rally held in conjunction with the broader event drew a much smaller set; I’d hazard to guess some 1000 people were there. What was interesting to me is that more than half of them were there with a subtly modified agenda. These folks believe the mess we have with the climate change to be a symptom of capitalist excesses and that the fix lays in moving to a socialist alternative.  There were multiple organizations pushing for a “system change, not climate change”. And system change invariably implied embracing socialism instead of capitalism.

Studies have determined that to provide water and sanitation for all in the world, it would take $9B per year. Basic health and nutrition would set one back by $13B per year. And basic education comes with a $6B per year price tag. Without debating about these numbers, let’s for a moment take these studies at face value. In contrast, two of the most profitable oil companies in the USA, Exxon Mobil and Chevron raked in profits of $32B and $21B respectively in 2013. When you look at the basic needs of the large population and contrast it with the profits of a few, you can’t help but wonder if the “system change, not climate change” has something to it. When you consider that profits from just one of oil rich companies could solve all of world’s water, sanitation, health, nutrition & education with $4b to spare, you are forced to step back and reconsider what’s happening around you.  $4b is not chump change in profits, mind you! Some of the most profitable companies in the US,  Exxon, Chevron, Apple, Pfizer, Microsoft and others like them can wipe out lots of world’s woes and yet sport a handsome profit for their shareholders.

If solving big problems were that straight forward, why hasn’t it happened? I’ve often reflected that it is so because we do not have system that promotes responsible capitalism. And what exactly is “responsible capitalism”? Since that is not a well-accepted phrase, I will attempt to outline what I believe it means.

Responsible capitalism is one where we don’t have corporations and individuals fight tooth and nail to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Worse, they don’t resort to exploiting loop holes in tax structures and off shoring profits to avoid paying taxes. 

I know I am opening myself to sharp criticism when I use phrases like “fair share of taxes”.  What is fair share, you ask? Well, ours is a country where laws are laid out based on behavior of “reasonable person”. That’s precisely how a judge explains to a jury how to review a situation at hand. Not how a democrat would behave… or a republican… or a libertarian; not how a rich person would behave… or a poor person; Not how a Christian would behave… or a Hindu… or a Muslim… When defining a reasonable person, we do not worry about their political affiliation, or their economic status, or their religious belief or any of the hundred ways we can categorize, box and stereotype human beings. We simply are expected to understand a “reasonable person”. I implore you to be reasonable as we continue to explore this difficult topic of responsible capitalism.

It is not responsible capitalism when a successful electric car making company negotiates $1.3 billion in tax credits in order to build a battery manufacturing plant in Nevada when the CEO of the company is worth $12 billion himself.

In 1914, when HenryFord doubled the salary of his workers to $5 a day and reduced their work hours to 8 from 9 a day, he practiced responsible capitalism. To put this in perspective, a worker could make $100 a month and the price of a Model T then was about $300.

When we have a system where we do not argue to bitter end about raising the minimum wages to $15 an hour while CEOs make multi-million dollars, we have responsible capitalism. Interestingly a worker would make about $2500 per month if the minimum wage were $15/hour while the price of a small car will set them back by 10 grand, a ratio that is close enough to what existed in 1914.

Responsible capitalism is when an average employee gets an opportunity to partake in the profits and stock appreciation of a company. It certainly is not responsible capitalism if the CEO is awarded 7 million stock options while it is impossible to award 500 stock options to a new employee in the same company.

Responsible capitalism is demonstrating a willingness to be inclusive of others less fortunate than you and providing them an opportunity to get ahead by sharing your good fortune, whether it is knowledge, money or unique skills.

Responsible capitalism is not a cry for socialism. When we are able to put people above politics and profits, we have responsible capitalism.

Fantasy Boarding Announcement

Ladies & Gentlemen:

Welcome to Jet Stream flight JS 678. Your flight will be ready for boarding in few minutes. Please listen to this announcement in its entirety before crowding the boarding area.  I have been told to personally assure you that all of you in the gate area have an assigned seat and no one else is going to usurp it from you; most importantly, the flight isn’t leaving without you.

We will be boarding by many categories. Some have been identified as appropriate by our airlines operations staff; others, we have introduced in keeping with times. Please be assured that each of you will find yourself in one of the categories - do board only when your category is called.

First, we will board families with infants and young children, as well as elderly passengers and others who need special assistance. Right after them, we will welcome families with adorable but not so young children whose parents pretend to have the need for special assistance for them.  Alongside, we will accept somewhat elderly looking but perfectly able people who try to masquerade as disabled passengers.

Next, we will welcome our first class and Titanium class members of our frequent flyer program. Please give room for the Titanium frequent flyers, they demand their well-earned privilege and will rip us apart if something were not to happen to their satisfaction.  By us, I mean not just us airlines staff, but potentially you as well. For your own safety, if not for ours, please, stay away from them.

Business class passengers and Zirconium class frequent flyers will board next. Everything I said about Titanium class frequent flyers is applicable for this group too. Let’s give them their space, shall we?

Helium class members will be invited to board next. If I told you to be scared of our elite Zirconium and ultra-elite Titanium class frequent flyers, I’d say be terrified of the Helium class folks. They are Zirconium and Titanium wannabes, but at this time,  just a lot of hot gas. Consequently, they tend to be explosive. As a rule of thumb, just stay away from our road warriors. You don’t think earned the title of warriors for no reason, did you?

We will board by zones following these elite members. We do believe the zones are a good way to efficiently board. When Zone 1 passengers are called, we also will accept Zones 2, 3, 4 & 5 passengers who ignore everything around them by pretending to listen to music and sneak past us. Likewise, when we call Zone 2, we will accept Zones 3, 4 & 5 passengers as well, this time employing alternate tricks such as being engrossed in the book they are reading.  Zones 3, 4 & 5 will follow them. But who cares, right? The boarding area typically is near empty by this time. It’s as though a significant portion of our passengers have a sudden loss of comprehension of English language.

When I call Zone 5, if anyone is actually left in the boarding area, I’ll be damned! Do you realize you are the true elite? You haven’t lost your ability to understand English; you have infinite patience that will come in handy every day of your life. I bet you are truly satisfied and happy with life and take things in your stride with a smile in your face.  I will personally ensure your hand luggage finds place inside the cabin – our airline has an area by the first class cabin earmarked for your luggage! Tell you what, we will give a free round trip ticket in our airline to anywhere we fly.

Ladies and gentlemen, Jet Stream flight JS 678 is now ready to board.