Productivity of Prostitution

The most wrenching moment during the Prevent Impaired Driving Event on Capitol Hill last week for me surprisingly had nothing to do with the event subject itself. It was my overhearing a conversation between two of our guests.

"What do you do?" one asked.

"I'm a lobbyist," said the other.

"What do you lobby for?" asked the first man.

"Whatever they pay me for," said the second.

Whatever they pay me for?! My stomach turned.

I didn't want to see who it was, didn't want to know the prostitute in our midst.

The worst blow came when the man he was talking to didn't even raise a challenge.

Couldn't he respond: "So you are one of those soulless drones who may be bought by the chemical companies, the pharmaceutical companies, the oil companies currently on a path to undermine our planet, our health and life on earth! How can you sleep at night? When you get up in the morning, what do you see in the mirror?"

I wanted to scream and shake the life out of him. Or into him.

But then I realized that's exactly how so many people I know regard their jobs -- they'll do whatever they get paid for.

The country is grinding its productivity out of widespread prostitution.

We accept subsuming our beliefs for money. We accept prostituting ourselves for money. We do what we hate for money. This has become not only acceptable, but the NORM. It's EXPECTED.

People AGREE to become parking-ticket givers. People AGREE to work for collection agencies to call people and pressure them for money they don't have. People AGREE to be attorneys for the tobacco industry.

Who likes parking tickets, or collection agency calls? Who thinks the tobacco industry is a positive force in the world?

Doing stuff we would hate to receive kills us, in my opinion.

Starting wars we would hate to have on our soil kills us too, in my opinion.

I persist in the belief that it cannot remain this way for much longer. It's an energy deficit. We spend much more energy doing stuff we hate than doing stuff we love.

I'd be willing to bet that people who work in the jobs they hate are sick and injured from all causes far more often than people doing jobs they love.

It goes without saying that it affects our souls. More practically, for those in practical mode, I also believe it directly affects productivity in a broad and wide way.

This country is not in a position to afford such effects anymore. We can't afford the depression in productivity. We can't afford the health costs either.

As far as I've read, we are teetering on the edge of economic meltdown.

We must change.

Important change like this can happen only by one person after another making a different decision, a different choice.

Choose to do only what you would agree to do without money. In your mind, take money out of the equation for a minute when choosing your actions today.

Then choose to bring to yourself money for making the choices that sit well in your heart. It's pretty much that simple.

When one person does this, he or she becomes an example and an influence to everyone he or she knows. That's how things shift. That's how the country can shift.

Changing Minds on Capitol Hill

Last week, April 6, I went to Capitol Hill with AWAKE Community to present to Congress an event intended to reinvigorate and bring together the groups involved in the effort to prevent impaired driving, the most prevalent violent crime in the country.

The event was a strong success -- many of the different groups involved in the effort to prevent drunk driving gathered in the same room together -- many for the first time.

I know, it may come as a shock, but the different organizations, due to conflicting opinions of the best approach to solve the issue and a mindset that each is competing for limited donor dollars, hate each other.

Okay, hate may be a strong word, but visceral dislike is pretty accurate.

I worked with AWAKE Community to create a film and music and art performance that would remove the us vs them view and thank personal, everyday heroes who have kept tragedies from happening.

By the end of the evening, minds were changed.

Not only did the various groups acknowledge each other, but also a deeper change occurred.

One man came up to my colleague and said, "You changed my mind -- I drink and drive, and I never listened because the messages were so holier than thou. But you guys are just like me... you've done it too and you're not afraid to be open about that. I can listen to you."

That to me was exactly what I wanted to accomplish with the film.