Put UP or SHUT UP!!!!

This week I realized that there are people on this planet who care for nothing more than their own petty dramas. Not issues mind you, but dramas. At work, a colleague who CONSTANTLY complains about the situations at work was given an opportunity to vent and voice her concerns. Rather than take the opportunity, she back peddled and sat in the room absolutely retracting all of the complaints that she has made over the past 4 months. Let's keep in mind that she has been with the organization for more than 3 years, so she knows how things work. But when a co-worker comes along (read me) and voices some of these concerns during many of our staff meetings, it would only make sense for her to voice some of these issues as well. I mean if a few of your co-workers have the SAME issues, let’s ALL get together and have management address them as a WHOLE; at least that is what I thought.

Well, now it seems she was put-off by my proactive decision, and I am totally flummoxed [my new word for '06]. The manager was very receptive to the concerns I voiced and even requested suggestions to improve the current status. "Ms. Complain-to-Complain" only sat there and mumbled about it wasn’t that bad, or “we just didn’t know.” Totally contrary to what she has been griping, bitching, and moaning about since I have been in the building.

Now, I am seen as some kind of pariah because…let’s see:

1. I voiced my concerns to a person who could actually initiate some change.
2. I did NOT sit around having the AFTER meeting after the meeting bitching and griping about the mess at work.
3. I was proactive enough to voice my colleagues issues as mine.

Well, now I see many of them; especially "Ms. Complain-to-Complain," live to bitch but accept things as they are. I am SOOOOO glad these people were NOT in any civil rights movement from which I benefit.

Well, in the immortal words of Audre Lorde:

I've come to believe.....over and over again, what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared even at risk of having it bruised or misunderstood. The speaking itself profits me beyond any other effect. The weight of our silence will choke us. So, I speak...as an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us...for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.