Monday, June 3, 2013

I DON'T REMEMBER



I DON’T REMEMBER


We all hear this said by friends, mates, co-workers, politicians, and others we look up to and admire. The only problem is, they do remember yet chose to say they don’t.

Now I know this is different from I do remember, or, oh yeah I remember that, but when someone says “I don’t remember” and it’s of concern – something is amiss.

When I write, albeit a novel, screenplay or TV script, I must remember all the characters, locations and who was doing what where when and how. The whole project would get dumped if I forgot or didn't remember it all.

If I’m directing a film, I need to remember each scene, each location, how people looked and talked, which scene goes where, all the characters and what they said and did. I even have to remember promises made, who made them and why they were made. On top of all that, I must remember where each scene I shoot goes in the final film and remember to shoot it so the marriage with another scene is seamless.

I better have an answer and an explanation if the producer or studio asks me a question. Many of my friends and colleagues have lost jobs forgetting something critical that was missed or never shot. It’s too late to correct if the actors are released, or the locations are torn down, or eliminated. At the studio level, regardless of what various producers or directors to if their efforts fail and films produced lose money, the man at the top eventually gets replaced. It is, after all, the one and only boss’s responsibility to spend the studio’s money well, behave in a manner that provides profits and creates a product the public wants to see and actually goes to see it. Sometimes the leader gets replaced darned quickly when a few films fail.

Men and women working with equipment, records, books, financing and other occupations can’t afford to forget much of anything pertaining to their job or work. In some cases, one forgotten move could cost a life or limb, so it’s best to remember every significant move made.

In the military or foreign service we must remember how to protect them if something goes wrong. This activity cannot be given to people unfamiliar with the territory or potential threats. Leaders appoint those who know a great deal and can be trusted to make correct decisions. If lives are on the line, certain positions require someone who will do everything in their power to save lives and not buckle under pressure. Still, this appointed person answers only to the ultimate boss, the leader. When we vote we sincerely trust the chosen leader to lead our country faithfully, correctly, efficiently, honestly and trustfully. After all, the people’s trust and safety depend on them, right?

Failure here is like having a dentist forget which tooth he was working on and drills into a perfectly healthy one or, God forbid, pulls the wrong tooth. It’s best if he or she remembers what they were doing.

Doctor’s can’t seriously say; “I don’t remember” when in the middle of surgery or are asked about a health issue or pending operation or treatment. It’s just not done or acceptable.

A husband or wife can’t get away with “I don’t remember.” Forget what the issue is, we just don’t say this without an argument or worse.

All this brings me to the point I’m trying to make. We hire, or as news reporters constantly remind us, we elect those who represent our best interests. They say all the time “This is what the people want,” or “This is what the public at large want,” or “This is why I was elected.” Ah, they all say this, right? It doesn’t matter which party, it’s a standard line they all use. They do what we, the people, want them to do. After all, we elected them. In short, we hired them to do an extremely specific job. THEY work for us, not the other way around.

When we expected change, the change expected is for the whole of us, everyone, right? It wasn’t designed to appeal only to the politician we hired, or elected. Remember … he or she works for us? That means all of us, regardless of party. The job of a politician is to do the job he or she was hired to do and no other. That said, the politicians who represents us should perform and accomplish the very things we put them into the office to do. They should vote for things we want, changes we hope for, and improvements that will make our lives better. They weren’t hired, or elected, to stick their nose in other business. The first thing on their agenda should be for our best interests. They must also learn how to compromise to get things done.

We all understand one single principle. We have one leader, one person who speaks on behalf of all others under him or her, one person who runs the whole show. All of those who work for, under or around them answer to only one. There is one leader, one chief, one person who guides all others in public office. They all answer to him. He knows about everything going on. He is the one responsible. He can’t forget one thing. He’s never out of the loop. No one dares make a move without his approval. In some countries when a person dares to defy their leader they are prosecuted, jailed or worse shot and killed.

So, to be straight and understood, the leader’s role is to lead, function with control and have a hands-on of everything that happens for him and for us. After all, we did hire, or elect, him, right? We put him in office because the belief was he would do his job. He would hire smart key people to head up various departments, venues and portions of the overall job he couldn’t possibly do singlehandedly. We, because we believed in him or her would trust that those chosen to do their jobs, would do them in the professional grade expected, be honest, forthright and have an open policy about all they did. We should know about everything our leaders do and don't do. Short of disclosing national security secrets, we have the right to know. If they did these simple functions there would be no lies, cover-ups, or putting personal issues ahead of the job. In each case, we would expect nothing less than a hands-on job that would provide security and peace of mind.

“I don’t remember,” isn’t acceptable dialogue is it? I mean, we didn’t expect to hire, or elect, a person who wasn’t hands on, who didn’t know what others were doing for us and yet had his approval, did we? Remember we still have one boss, one leader, one person who approves everything and over-sees it all, right?

We want the truth when people run amuck, spend our money foolishly, vote on things we don’t want and never did want, or pour our money into businesses the country doesn’t own or operate one hundred percent of. If anyone does foolish things or endangers anyone regardless of party or affiliation, they should be replaced. If someone can’t do their job, they shouldn’t be rewarded or given a raise, they should be fired as would be done in any other business in the world.

We, the people, have a truly outdated tax system, and it was run aground. If it were a ship, it would have a massive hole in her hull. The vessel would be taking on large amounts of water that would eventually sink it. Our taxes should be simple, printed on one page, be flat and fair for everyone, and more importantly, totally eliminate an internal revenue system that has forgotten it’s most prestigious issue … they work for us, right? Once this gets done it will raise more revenue and reduce the national debt faster than any other proposal. The national debt has risen from 9 trillion to 17 trillion dollars in only four years. For those who aren’t good with numbers, our national debt will have doubled in five short years.

If the public, that’s all of us regardless of party, feel we have been wronged, they, the whole of the organization should and needs to be replaced with a better system. After all, we didn’t hire them, or elect them to put fear into us did we? Wait, did we lose control here? Do they now look at us as though they are our bosses? Oops. That’s not how it works, is it? We the people, that's all of us, hired everyone that’s in public office to represent us. If that’s the case we should be able to get rid of them, fire them, replace them and look for a better solution. We should not tolerate those who do wrong with rewards, or those forced out of a job poorly done only to be given a better one with a raise in salary. What about those who lied or twisted the rules? Why should they be given a raise? Short of death, most if not all civil servant jobs can't be fired or replaced even when they are wrongdoers.  What kind of a mess do we have that allows such behavior right beneath our nose? We hire people and then have no right to get rid of them when they lie or make our lives miserable. Aren’t we the precise people who hired them? Wow, talk about things going wacko.

“I don’t remember. I don’t recall. To do that, for me, I depend on others. I didn’t have anything to do with that. Or; I didn’t make that call.” This kind of irresponsible behavior doesn’t work anymore because we're sick of hearing it. We hired a leader, voted him into office, and he should know how to manage everyone under him, right? Didn’t the leader handpick most of those working in key positions? What do we do when we, the people, have been wronged or lied to? What are we to do now?

Does anyone care? Have we become so blind it doesn’t matter anymore? Has politics really taken away our vision, our future and freedom? Has it all been lost? To the outsider, we, the nation, have become a flock of sheep, followers to the cliff’s edge. We have created such a mammoth debt it’s scary, and how we pay it down even scarier if something isn’t done to curtail it. Even the greatest country in the world can run out of money and no longer be able to pay our bills. We can only print so much currency before the dollar becomes worthless to the global market.

What has taken place isn't a coincidence. If you are naive enough to believe it's cool, and one side won the battle, there is lots of swampland you should buy in Florida as a solid investment. Don't think for a minute if one side can do this to society and get away with it, the tide will eventually turn, and the other party will be in control. Retaliation is possible, which would potentially have results so horrible that even the most open of minds would view the events as the end of time and freedom as we know it. Like a spreading cancer, the wicked needs to be cut out now, stopped before it gets out of control, and the critical needs to be replaced with new blood and new thinking that will involve all of us. We have allowed ourselves to be bullied into believing things are right, and only a few are wrong. That's not even close to the truth. When we hear it's too bad what has taken place and everything will be done to make sure it never happens again - we need to take a long hard look and realized this is nothing but a sneaky way of saying I screwed up, let's brush it under the carpet, move on and hope no one else makes the same mistake. People who say this are part of cancer that needs to be removed. We need to come together and do it now.

It’s not all doom and gloom it’s just a wake up call. I hope we never reach the point where a phone call to 911 goes unanswered. It has nothing to do with one party or the other, they, the politicians are to blame, and democrats, republicans, independents and those not affiliated with any of the above are all to blame, but sadly that blame belongs on our shoulders because we put all of them in office. We hire them to protect us, put up safe guards, spend wisely, hold the runaway trains in check and be there for our rainy day. That has not happened. The Congress can’t pass a bill without adding piles of junk to it. It's pathetic enough, the Senate can’t agree what color toilet paper should be in their restrooms. How can they create an uncomplicated bill or law meant to cover one single purpose? Isn't that the idea, their leadership will benefit all? The whole of our government pass bills without reading them and then later try to explain why they did it. We hired them; we should have the right to fire them. It’s one man’s opinion, but I hear a lot of grumbling coming from every walk of life. Race or political-party has nothing to do with the problems. It’s the problem that has become our problem. The hate, one-sided decisions and anger need to be put aside – for a long time. Let’s find solutions. Let’s learn how to get along before it’s too late.

William Byron Hillman © 2013
Book Links:
Veronique and Murray: http://tinyurl.com/8xrmmu7
Zebra’s Rock and Me http://tinyurl.com/7b28qu6
Quigley’s Christmas Adventure http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ANVNQ6G

Rollie Kemp Books
Ghosts and Phantoms Part I: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056WR6I6
Ghosts and Phantoms Part II: http://tinyurl.com/d7mtspu
Bad Rap: (Coming June 2013)