Why Not Just Leave?
If working conditions in a company proved intolerable, why not just leave?
As stressful as this experience proved, he remained courageous. In truth, there are three ways by which people respond to stress - freeze, flee, or fight back. My husband chose to fight back. Why? What was in it for him?
To answer this question, you have to know the character of a person. The primordial motive for my husband was not rooted in his self but his thoughtful and selfless consideration of others who work in this company.
He saw the inherent injustice in this company that used psychologically oppressive cultural norms to keep decent working people controlled. There was scheduling bias, opportunity bias, and questionable labor practices all neatly bundled into a cultural icon called "teamwork."
He wanted to look away, cover his ears, flee without uttering a word but his basic sense of right and wrong could not make him just leave. He told me that he wanted to take a stand because many people who work for this company were in the same boat as he was. The difference was that they were oblivious to the systemic discrimination built into the work operations itself.
He wanted to be the voice they did not have. In the end, this quixotic ideal may have cost him more than he thought to sacrifice.
As stressful as this experience proved, he remained courageous. In truth, there are three ways by which people respond to stress - freeze, flee, or fight back. My husband chose to fight back. Why? What was in it for him?
To answer this question, you have to know the character of a person. The primordial motive for my husband was not rooted in his self but his thoughtful and selfless consideration of others who work in this company.
He saw the inherent injustice in this company that used psychologically oppressive cultural norms to keep decent working people controlled. There was scheduling bias, opportunity bias, and questionable labor practices all neatly bundled into a cultural icon called "teamwork."
He wanted to look away, cover his ears, flee without uttering a word but his basic sense of right and wrong could not make him just leave. He told me that he wanted to take a stand because many people who work for this company were in the same boat as he was. The difference was that they were oblivious to the systemic discrimination built into the work operations itself.
He wanted to be the voice they did not have. In the end, this quixotic ideal may have cost him more than he thought to sacrifice.