Recently there was alot of buzz around Exxon Mobile's record profits. Even though there is a unique situation related to public reaction to high gas prices, this negative public outcry is not unique. People are expecting that companies should have used that money for alternative purposes than filling executive purses. Local jobs, environmental initiatives, lower product prices are all things that general public would prefer to "running up the score" just because they can.
Unfortunately, those same members of the public are also shareholders often without even realizing it. Shareholders expect these ( and higher ) profits and are punishing companies on a merciless basis if they do not meet their expectations which are often in the order of a minumum 20% increase in profits each and every year.
So the only question when you read an article like: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080731/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_exxon_mobil is "what did you expect?"
Do you expect companies to do the right thing for society? Or are you a shareholder in one of the 1600+ institutional funds holding the majority ( 53% ) of Exxon Mobil shares?
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Thoughts from Grand Cache
In the misdst of a team relay running the Death Race here in Grand Cache Alberta, I am drawn to make several parallels to Arthur Boer's "The Way is Made For Walking".
Like him we are certainly hoping not "to be in that number" which is marked by such harsh acroynm's as "DNF" for Did Not Finish. We are here to finish the race. Not to win or be done in 18 hours, but just to have a team of 3 guys cover the entire race within the allotted 24 hours.
Like Boer we are all recognizing the need to travel light while at the same time meeting the minimum safety requirements which include hat and mitts for mountain summits, head lamps for night time, and adequate water for basic survival. There are many luxury items that we carry along in running and in life like iPods, digital camera's, and sunglasses that don't necessarily get us anywhere, but make our journey more comfortable. Do we take them or not?
The rules really are different. Where else does a stranger ask for and expect to get "a size 7 women's left shoe" as she runs past a bunch of onlookers?
But what struck me most was the summation of what I have not been able to describe to this point of why we keep doing this stuff.
T.S Elliot is quoted in Boer's chapter on "The Road That Leads to Life". He says "And what you thought you came for
Is only a shell, a husk of meaning"
We came for fun, for a challenge, but ultimately I know that these things are only just the husk of the grain of meaning that is found in the experience. Maybe I still can't describe what that grain all includes, but it absolutely includes learning about life.
Even at the Death Race.
http://www.canadiandeathrace.com/
GO DEATH RACERS!!!
Like him we are certainly hoping not "to be in that number" which is marked by such harsh acroynm's as "DNF" for Did Not Finish. We are here to finish the race. Not to win or be done in 18 hours, but just to have a team of 3 guys cover the entire race within the allotted 24 hours.
Like Boer we are all recognizing the need to travel light while at the same time meeting the minimum safety requirements which include hat and mitts for mountain summits, head lamps for night time, and adequate water for basic survival. There are many luxury items that we carry along in running and in life like iPods, digital camera's, and sunglasses that don't necessarily get us anywhere, but make our journey more comfortable. Do we take them or not?
The rules really are different. Where else does a stranger ask for and expect to get "a size 7 women's left shoe" as she runs past a bunch of onlookers?
But what struck me most was the summation of what I have not been able to describe to this point of why we keep doing this stuff.
T.S Elliot is quoted in Boer's chapter on "The Road That Leads to Life". He says "And what you thought you came for
Is only a shell, a husk of meaning"
We came for fun, for a challenge, but ultimately I know that these things are only just the husk of the grain of meaning that is found in the experience. Maybe I still can't describe what that grain all includes, but it absolutely includes learning about life.
Even at the Death Race.
http://www.canadiandeathrace.com/
GO DEATH RACERS!!!
