Kathie Lingle's Work-Life Blog

It's Time to Celebrate! Really!!

Oct. 10, 2008 — OK, so you’re thinking who am I to interrupt the unending string of bad news washing over everyone and everything these days. I do have to confess I, too, am feeling the threshold angst they keep talking about on TV that seems to have gripped all of us. I wake up with my stomach seized in a knot and have to devote more attention than usual to my “greeting the day” routine: a variable combination of exercise, meditation and breakfast outside, gazing at the McDowell Mountains that surround me until my sense of perspective about my relative place in the universe snaps back into line. 

Even our Presidential candidates are now fanning the flames, opting to slog it out in the weeds, having apparently decided that mutual mud-slinging is easier and safer than publicly discussing potential solutions to what is obviously going to be a long-term crisis that one of them is going to have to deal with for however long they will be in office. Do they suppose that we don’t notice their insufferable schoolboy behavior and don’t crave leadership that will eventually lead us out of this mess? The real abyss that is so terrifying is not financial; it’s the realization that no one in the entire world is in charge, no identifiable hand is on the rudder. If it were only about money, then we would be well-advised to choose Warren Buffet to be our next President, since he is morphing into the current incarnation of J.P. Morgan, whom the pundits would have us believe single-handedly pulled this country out of the Great Depression.

But, I digress. It is October, and that is reason enough for all of us who are still working to celebrate. For in the midst of the ashes has arisen a phoenix (no, not the city -- the mythical, sacred firebird!). You see, on a dark Saturday afternoon not quite two weeks ago, on the floor of the House of Representatives, while the two parties and their fractured leadership were locked in fierce combat over the first Bailout Bill (the way too simplistic three-page version that flopped for lack of pork padding, remember?), a small but not insignificant miracle took place. “Our” House Resolution 1440 that reaffirms October as National Work and Family Month was passed unanimously. You could have knocked me over with a phoenix feather! Along with everyone else who works here at WorldatWork and the leadership team at Alliance for Work-Life Progress, thanks to all of you whom we have been leaning on over the past month to write letters and make phone calls to your legislators in a concentrated effort to get this Resolution to see the light of day. Lo and behold, our grassroots effort actually worked!

I choose to interpret this eleventh-hour development against all odds as a beacon of hope, a flame in the dark that I personally dedicate myself to keep burning. Better things are going to come. But not without a struggle, of course. We’ve got a long way to go to ensure that conditions for working families continue to improve, now more than ever, since the pain is intensifying by the day. Michele McDonald has sent a poignant reminder of the enormous ground yet to be covered:

“I applaud your success at this very important recognition of the relationship between family and the work place. BUT...I can't help but find it funny that a new congressional resolution has been passed to recognize National Work and Family Month when the federal government doesn't even afford parental leave for those of us who want to start families. We are forced to work with no time off just so we can save up enough sick or annual leave to take some time off to have a baby (which by the way, takes over a year to do). I think it is preposterous that the government of the United States of America, with all of its EEO and "Family Wellness" Programs, doesn't give even one second of paid parental leave to start a family. I just had to voice my opinion on this one.”

We hear and thank you for the irrefutable reality you point out, Michele. And I assure you that National Work and Family Month is not about holding still or having arrived at a destination. We have no intention of resting on our laurels, for the hardest work has yet to be confronted. But it is a symbolic start. It is recognition from that same government of the United States of America that they support our overall mission of creating more supportive conditions for everyone who works.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of WorldatWork and its affiliate, Alliance for Work-Life Progress (AWLP).