Ralph's Page Rage
So Ralph threw a tantrum, and threw a book at a parliamentary page in the Alberta legislature. Way to go Ralph. You showed her who's the big boss. You really taught her a lesson. (To read more, follow the link above).
You can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat their subordinates. Power tends to lay naked our consciousness in ways that are not immediately apparent. There is a marked difference between leaders who act like shepherds in a flock and those who act live drunken bumper car champions. Members of Parliament who treat parliamentary pages as their own children or grandchildren demonstrate their basic humanity at no cost. On the other hand, mistreatment of subordinates is the irrational and misdirected expression of one's will to dominate. The will to dominate is most pettily expressed when your below-average MP from a riding north of Waterloo, defeated in a recent election by the grace of all that is good, treats parliamentary pages and political staff as personal minions and lower-caste objects.
The will to power has its moments of glory. The rallying of a group towards a common cause, to defeat a common enemy... This resonates with a sense of fairplay, competition and motivation. The duel between equally matched foes, in a death-defying spectacle of might and skill... This captures our imagination and fires the ancient warrior spirit of even-handed combat.
Yet arrogance and pettiness are attributes that marr the spirits of the successfully mediocre. Their transparent self-aggrandizement is only effective while they apply their energies to coercing tokens of respect from their entourage. They display their anger at small matters.
For those who would, like Ralph Klein, mistreat the young pages of parliament, remember that they are the parliamentarians of the future. Abusing these young leaders is to ensure that you will forever be held by future leaders as a memory worthy of reproach and scorn, an example to be disgarded, a figure of contemptible comedy.
If you recognize some of the signs and symptoms, seek treatment for your page rage, before it's too late. Don't turn your rage on the page. Turn the page on your rage.
You can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat their subordinates. Power tends to lay naked our consciousness in ways that are not immediately apparent. There is a marked difference between leaders who act like shepherds in a flock and those who act live drunken bumper car champions. Members of Parliament who treat parliamentary pages as their own children or grandchildren demonstrate their basic humanity at no cost. On the other hand, mistreatment of subordinates is the irrational and misdirected expression of one's will to dominate. The will to dominate is most pettily expressed when your below-average MP from a riding north of Waterloo, defeated in a recent election by the grace of all that is good, treats parliamentary pages and political staff as personal minions and lower-caste objects.
The will to power has its moments of glory. The rallying of a group towards a common cause, to defeat a common enemy... This resonates with a sense of fairplay, competition and motivation. The duel between equally matched foes, in a death-defying spectacle of might and skill... This captures our imagination and fires the ancient warrior spirit of even-handed combat.
Yet arrogance and pettiness are attributes that marr the spirits of the successfully mediocre. Their transparent self-aggrandizement is only effective while they apply their energies to coercing tokens of respect from their entourage. They display their anger at small matters.
For those who would, like Ralph Klein, mistreat the young pages of parliament, remember that they are the parliamentarians of the future. Abusing these young leaders is to ensure that you will forever be held by future leaders as a memory worthy of reproach and scorn, an example to be disgarded, a figure of contemptible comedy.
If you recognize some of the signs and symptoms, seek treatment for your page rage, before it's too late. Don't turn your rage on the page. Turn the page on your rage.
posted by Lt Smash at 10:20 PM
2 Comments:
I notice, my dear Hubble, that you have invented a new word!
"an example to be disgarded":
Disgarded. This must be an adjective describing something that is BOTH disregarded AND discarded.
A lot of people could learn from your efficient abuse of the English language. Way to go Hubble. You've got talent.
Payton, I assure that I do not think all pages become parliamentarians. Many become doctors, mothers, journalists, soldiers... Perhaps I let my rhetoric get ahead of me.
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