John Linton Last day of the first month of the new financial year. It will turn out to be a reasonable month, like most Januaries in Australian business effected by the fact that so many people take much of January as annual leave and that means the usual amount of monthly 'decision making' is not done - even in the residential market places. Exetel's 'figures' reflect a marked drop in land line calls, partially offset by an increase in mobile calls and reductions in residential over quota data charges. Corporate revenues don't drop but new corporate revenue is slowed down by the 'embargo' which sees the carriers not installing any new corporate services for a period of over three weeks from late December to mid January. It also reminded me that yet another January has passed in which I have not had a break from working.
So we are about to 'roll into' the year's second month with the first month passing in the usual 'blink of an eye' and with one month less to meet the current financial year's targets....and equally true, with one more month's achievement to add to the previous six. You can look at it that all businesses are tyrannised by month on month target meeting and everything associated with that process. Or you can look at business targets as being just a set of objectives that any individual has to meet to survive and grow in their personal life (paying the mortgage, helping their children negotiate the early stages of their lives). Every individual human being (at least those whose lives are not derailed by substance abuse) are semi-programmed to try and improve their personal circumstances and to assist their children attain some form of 'better life' than that of their parents. Any cursory look at the history of the human species clearly demonstrates that. We are different to every other living thing in that we are a discontented species and cause ourselves, and those around us, great unhappiness by having that basic urge.
What relevance does this have to anything? Possibly none whatsoever. Clearly I have no real knowledge of such a topic and my personal 'observations' definitely fall in to the the non-rigorous category. It was simply brought to mind when I was reviewing the past month and jumping ahead to the next month and all the changes that have to be considered (just to remain where we are) and I was looking at the carrawongs, ravens, kookaburras, lorikeets and sulphur crested cockatoos that were arriving for 'breakfast' on the patio. Over the years we have watched those different bird species rear their young with meticulous attention to their welfare by both parents to a level you seldom see in humans (even in the most devoted of mothers) and then see the various ways the parent birds ensure their young find 'lives of their own'. They are far more successful in protecting and raising their young and then launching them in to adult life than most humans I am aware of have ever been.
Why worry about something that is an intrinsic part of humanity? I'm not sure but it struck me earlier this morning that such imperatives still drive me (and many other people I am acquainted with) to try and accomplish things that have no real, perhaps any, meaning for my personal life nor those of my immediate family or my company responsibilities. It seems that humanity generally continues to strive to 'achieve' long past any realistic or even useful targets/standards/whatever. Like migratory birds we are doomed to die making one more attempt to fly the 2 - 15,000 kilometers from wintering grounds back to spring breeding grounds impelled by some internal program that cannot be ignored. A pretty dismal thought to start the new week with.
Perhaps what is 'truer' about the human species is the we bore far too easily and we have to make up theoretical targets for ourselves that give the illusion of some sort of progress towards some overarching reason for our existence? Maybe the thought of not having a 'reason' to get out of bed in the morning is too scary a thought for serious contemplation.
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