Day 7 (7WJ) – Does it always matter if you’re right?

Day 7!  That means that I’ve been at this for one week and I really want to pat myself on the back!  Creating this habit is probably one of the most personally beneficial habits that I’ve stuck with daily, in a while.

Today started with the gym and 30 minutes on the bike and then weights.  My foot was screaming at me and the thought of running on it might be just be a bit self-abusive.  The workouts have been going for 6 days/week now.  Weight not budging but I’m certain that if I stay with it, it will.  Either that, or I’ll trade the soft parts of me for some more toned, fit ones.

What stands out from today, or really yesterday since its now past midnight, is the question, “Does it always matter if you’re right?”.

Our building has been undergoing “renovations” for the last 7 months.  The 2nd and 4th floor had all the wall board on the exterior walls and insulation removed, and then replaced.  Those floors had mold.  We found it after repeated complaints, and several employees needing surgery for mold in their sinuses.  The 3rd floor, my floor, apparently missed the mold memo.  Skipped right over us, even though I have algae growing between my double-panes of glass.  (Truly a green building.) How could they tell it skipped us?  They cut large square holes in several places in the exterior walls and their little meters didn’t make the right sound.  So now, the 2nd and 4th floors have new walls, new carpet, new ceilings, and the 3rd floor has squares of wall board held in place by blue workman tape, and missing ceiling tiles where the poor work resulted in repeated flooding of offices.  So many wrongs on so many levels.  Did we have problems with the 3rd floor?  Yes.  Does it matter? Apparently no, and being a government building, we are also not held to OSHA standards.  So does being right matter?  In this case, not in any way that counts.  The only result from holding onto right, is being stopped and frustrated by those who don’t listen.

The second example is another one that amazes me.  With new summer requirements around teaching online classes, faculty who teach these classes are now not required to hold face-to-face office hours in summer.  Instead they are to post the times on their door when they will be available virtually.  These means that all those who used to pretend they were following the rules and pretend they were in town, don’t have to pretend any more.  When walking by one faculty’s office I found the sign, “Electronic Office Hours Summer 2015, Sunday 8 p.m. – 10 p.m.”.  I was stunned and want to seriously ask, “Are you kidding me?”  Was this person technically right to post the office hours?  They met that requirement.  But if they believe for one minute that posting reasonably meets the expectation for meeting students’ needs, they may be very surprised.  In some cases, even when you’re right, there is a right that is even more important.

Why do people play games when other people are at stake?  Whether it is health and safety, or job delivery and student learning, your actions don’t just impact you, but they strike others through the ripple effect we begin.  Does it always matter if you’re right?  May be not in the sense that anyone cares but definitely in the sense of who gets the fall out.