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Shannon's Rules

While scrolling through some old meeting notes eternally memorialized on iCloud this morning,  (along with dozens of shopping lists: delete, delete, delete....) I discovered one very brief and obscure entry from a seminar I attended. Just one line. All it said was "Boston - Shannon's Rules."

I laughed out loud (literally LOL'd), remembering how the speaker -- an attorney -- related the meaning of this phrase he coined himself, referring to a behavioral phenomenon his childhood in Boston.  At the Shannon family home, you see, the many brothers and sisters living under the same roof had, by necessity, developed a sort of tribal law, comprised of all their own rules for every game. In a kids kingdom, the majority rules, especially when the majority is all in the same family. No matter what the game, from tag to kick ball, they had their own set of rules at the Shannon house, and every guest was at the mercy of them, no matter how bizarre they happened to be. "When in Rome..."...Shannon's rules.

When you're working under any kind of adverse situation, it can feel the same way. Logic and reason are picked out and tossed aside like those bits of gross wilted lettuce you invariably find in your pre-bagged salad mix...Standards of common courtesy and kindness at scraped off into the same wastebasket, and you're left with a hollow set of expectations that have nothing whatsoever to do with being human -- or humane.

That may be the way the Shannon's play, but when did you decide to scrap your ethics, suppress your passion, and gut your values, for the sake of winning their game?

We can't abandon every job or situation we find uncomfortable or overly challenging, but if we find ourselves in a place completely devoid of everything we value, it's time to question whether you're there for a purpose, or just for a paycheck.

Meanwhile, don't play along. Don't forget who you are.

"[The Lord] grants a treasure of common sense to the honest.
    He is a shield to those who walk with integrity." -- Proverbs 2:7-8



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