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The first time I noticed a THIMK sign was decades ago posted on office walls of a Fortune 500 manufacturing company. The concept behind it was that everyone should put their gray matter to use when on the job to avoid unnecessary screw-ups and to minimize lost productivity. The irony of the misspelling was, of course, intentional. Perhaps the sign should be resurrected and reposted universally. Here’s why… Today when riding my bike over to my usual lap swimming venue, I passed a number of runners, walkers, and skaters on the bike path. It is my custom to alert those whom I overtake by announcing loudly, “On your left!” Most are quite startled as I draw beside them to pass, some figuratively jumping-out-of-their-skins. Obviously they don’t hear my warning. It isn’t that I approach them with some kind of stealth, it’s because they have sound systems plugged into their ears and cranked-up so they can mentally move and groove to the “heavy hits”. Audible noise hisses from their headphones as I pass. I slowed by one of them, motioned for him to remove an ear bud, and said, “Hey, friend, for your own safety maybe you should pay more attention to your surroundings.” He replied with a loud monotone whine, “I gotta have my tunes, man!” This was accompanied by an I-deserve-it-because-I’m-special sneer. I could visualize his room lined with “participation” trophies. (There’s a nice one. Congratulations on your ninth place finish.) I’ve confronted others with similar results. It seems they expect me to watch out for them, which I do; but shouldn’t they be expected to take at least some responsibility for their own well-being? When there are bikes whizzing about at 15 to 20 mph doesn’t it make sense to be aware? Later I noticed cyclists (like me) out on the main highway also with ear buds. Now we’re talking about an environment where vehicles are speeding in excess of 50 mph, many with drivers being distracted by talking on their mobile phones or (more often) tapping out text messages. That’s against the law, you say? Here’s a flash for you: Those who engage in that behavior don’t care! Anyway, would you like to be right, but “dead right”? C’mon, riders, listen to the sounds around you. THIMK! Author Robert Pirsig wrote about gestalts (being in the moment) when it came to motorcycle maintenance. He claimed he always knew a poor mechanic because the guy’s radio was blaring (“so he could hear his tunes, man”). Such a person was “in the moment”, uninterested in cause-and-effect analysis, and did not enjoy his job. Loud music was a clue that he did not even want to think about his job. What is the quality of work (or thought) of such people? Pirsig was concerned about those with a “romantic” outlook; that is, hoping things work out versus those with a “classic” outlook; that is, observing, analyzing, and solving problems; OR—ignorance and superstition versus science and virtue. Unfortunately much of America, including the electorate, falls into the “romantic” category. Not only do these mental giants refuse to do their own thinking (“Just give me a sound bite, man.”), they don’t want to think about anything. Hence the ear buds, social networks, pop culture, etc. Mr. Conventional Wisdom states over-and-over, “Well, we may have some problems, but this is still the greatest country in the world. This is still the best place to live!” Of course, Mr. CW has never been overseas and is only mouthing what others have told him. I call that tribal knowledge. As one who has traveled and lived overseas, I can tell Mr. CW without any reservations that he is arrogant and somewhat delusional. We’re just not that special anymore. Others have caught up, but aren’t lumbered with the faux superior, head-in-the-sand entitlement attitude, and just plain ignorance of much of our citizenry. I’d like to believe we’re ready to THIMK again, but I am not optimistic. I fear we’ve passed the tipping point. And the beat goes on… People should be mad as hell about the state of our country and the complete ineffectiveness of crony politicians—but they’re not! Americans have become a bunch of duh-gee-whiz “C-” students being led by a “D+” government. I mean, they can’t even run a cash-for-clunkers program without losing $26 billion. And now we want the government to run health care? Let’s see, the feds run Amtrak, social security, public education, etc. How’s that working out? If you want to see America’s future, just look at Detroit. Critical issues are ignored. The deficit, unemployment, and creating a business-friendly environment that creates jobs plays second fiddle to political pop culture issues like a candidate’s religion, gay marriage, and birth certificates. The plan for the future is to hope things work out. The media instead of asking hard questions and demanding answers run around with pom-poms cheering for “their side” and selling out for short-term ratings. For me, running, swimming, biking, being in the weight room, trimming the lawn, and washing my car are wonderful opportunities to reflect and analyze my environment. How can I make my business, personal, and spiritual lives better? How can a particular problem be solved? What can I do to create better opportunities for others? The last thing I want to do is shove-in some ear buds and cut-off the exclusive human ability to marvel at the world and ask why. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy music as well the next person. I’m only quibbling about the time and place for it. How do we get the crony bankers, politicians, businessmen, and media to remove their ear buds and listen to the chaos around them? Put up the signs, folks, there is a critical lack of THIMK! Copyright by Gene Myers, author of AFTER HOURS: ADVENTURES OF AN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESSMAN (2009), Strategic Publishing Group, New York, NY – a hilarious account of the author’s overseas travels; and SONGS FROM LATTYS GROVE (2010), PublishAmerica, Fredericksburg, MD - a mildly sinister, but amusing work of fiction. Both are available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and available in Amazon Kindle and Nook formats. Visit www.myersamazon.com
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ear buds, cyclists, Robert Pirsig, gestalts, crony politicians,
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